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SAINTS EVERLASTING REST: 



OK 



A TREATISE 



ON TIIJ 



BLESSED STATE OF THE SAINTS 
IN HEAVEN. 



BY RICHARD BAXTER 



» I 



ABRIDGED FOR THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 




PHILADELPHIA: 
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 









Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by 
Alexander W. Mitchell, M. D., in the office of the Clerk of 
the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania 



Printed by 
WM. B, MARTIEN. 

Stereotyped by 

S. IX ' KTH, 

No. 7 I'eu St. Philadelphia. 



CONTENTS, 



BOOK I. 
OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

PAGE 

Chapter I. Of the Nature of the Heavenly Rest, - - 12 

II. The Preparatives to the Heavenly Rest, - -22 

III. The Excellencies of the Heavenly Rest, - 34 

IV. The Certainty of the Heavenly Rest, - - 56 
V. The Persons for whom the Heavenly Rest 

remains, -59 

VI. The reasons why the Heavenly Rest re- 
mains, -------70 

VII. Whether Departed Souls enjoy the Heavenly 

Res\ before the Resurrection, - - -74 

BOOK II. 

OF THE PRACTICAL USES OF THE DOCTRINE OF 
HEAVENLY REST. 

Chapter I. The Misery of those who Lose the Heavenly 

Rest, 77 

Section I. The Nature of their Loss, - - - - 79 
II. The Aggravations of the Sinner's Loss, - 82 

III. They shall lose all things that are comfortable 

on Earth, as well as in Heaven, 92 

IV. The Greatness of the Torments of the Damned 

in Hell, 99 

Chapter II. Reprehending the General Neglect of the 
Heavenly Rest, and exciting to Diligence 
in seeking it, - - - - - - 113 

Section I. Reproof of Different Classes for their Neglect 

of the Heavenly Rest, - - - - - ib. 

II. Exhortation to Diligence in Seeking the Hea- 
venly Rest, 121 

Chapter III. Persuading all Men to try their Title to the 

Heavenly Rest, • 139 

Section I. The Possibility of Knowing our State by Self- 

/ Examination, 142 

II. Hinderances of Self-Examination, - 143 

iii 



j\ COJ1TBH1*. 

TA^E 

Part i. Impediments to Self-Examinatko, - I L3 

ii. Causes of Self-Deception, - 147 

in. Can I tainting among Christians, 148 

Si. lies Ilf. Motives to Self-Examination, - 155 

IV. D,: B -Examination, - 1<>1 
\ . Marks by which to Examine Ourselves, - - 166 

GttFTfl IV. 'I a of the Saint's Afflictions on 

rth, 170 

V. Eti proving oar Expectations of Rest on Earth, 179 
VI. Reproving our Unwillingness to Die, - - l s > 
Si:< iion I. The Aggravations of this Sin, - - - -186 
II. Reasons why we should he Willing to Die, - 100 
ChaPTB VII. An Exhortation to those that have got As- 
surance of Heavenly Rest, to do all they 
can to help others to it, - - - - 107 
Eta iion I. The Nature of this Duty, 198 

II. Hinderances to this Duty, - 210 

III. Motives to this duty, 215 

IV. Exhortations to this Duty, 221 

BOOK III. 

A DIRECTORY FOR GETTING AND KEEPING THE HEART IN 
HE A\ EN, BY THE PRACTICE OF THAT EXCELLENT DUTY 
OF BEAVENLY MEDITATION. 

CbaftKB I. Motives to Heavenly Mindedness, - 235 

II. Hinderances to Heavenly Mindednessj - - 254 

III. Helps to Heavenly Mindedness, - 265 

IV. The \at ure of Heavenly Contemplation, - 274 

V. Of the Time and Place for Heavenly Con- 

templation, and the Preparation of the 

Heart unto it, 282 

VI. Of the Faculties which are exercised in Hea- 
venly Contemplation, - 294 
VII. Helps for exciting the Affections in Heavenly 

Contemplation, 305 

VIII. Of the Management of the Heart in Hca- 

venly Contemplation, - 317 

1\. An I Sxample of Heavenly Contemplation, - 329 

SscnoN I. Actings of Judgment, ----- 324 

II. Actings of Faith, 327 

III. Actings of Love, 328 

IV. Actings of Joy, ------ 331 

V. Actings of Desire, ----- ;uo 
Conclusion, 349 



PREFACE. 



"The Saints' Everlasting Rest" was written 
by the author during a season of protracted 
bodily illness, and in its original form was a 
quarto volume of considerable size. After it 
had gone through a number of editions in this 
form, it was abridged in 1759, by the Rev. 
Benjamin Fawcett, and since that period, the 
abridgment has entirely superseded the origi- 
nal work. A literal reprint of the work, as left 
by its distinguished author, would not, on many 
accounts, be desirable ; and particularly for the 
reason that it would find few readers. It is 
verbose, repetitious and loosely written, faults 
of which the author himself became aware: 
and hence the abridgment by Fawcett, of which 
numerous editions have been published, was a 
real blessing to the world. 

When the Presbyterian Board of Publication 
had resolved to place this work on their cata- 
logue, it was determined to present an abridg- 



8 THE SAINT'S EVERLASTING REST. 

Sabbath and of Canaan, should teach them to look for 
a further rest, as the consummation of their happiness. 
My text Lb his conclusion after various arguments to 
that end ; a conclusion so useful to a believer, as con- 
taining the ground of all his comforts, the end of all 
his duty and sufferings, the life and sum of all gospel 
promises and Christian privileges, that you may easily 
satisfied why 1 have made it the subject of my pre- 
sent discourse. 

Though the sense of the text includes in the word 
Rest, all that ease and safety which a soul, wearied 
with the burden of sin and suffering, and pursued by 
law and conscience, has with Christ in this life; yet 
because it chiefly intends the rest of eternal glory, I 
shall eonline my discourse to this last. 

There are some things which this Rest pre-supposes ; 
and, before proceeding farther, it may not be improper 
briefly to notice them. 

1. A person in motion, seeking rest This is man 
here on earth; angels and glorified spirits have it 
aheadv ; and the devils and damned are past hope. 

2. An end toward which he moves for rest; which 
end must be sufficient for his rest, else when it is 
obtained, it deceives him. This can be only God, 
the chief good. He that takes any thing else for his 
happiness, is out of his way, the very first step. The 
principal damning sin is, to make any thing besides 
God our end or rest. And the first true saving act, is, 
to choose God only for our end and happiness. 

3. A distance is pre-supposed from this end, else 
there can he no motion towards it. This sad distance 
is the wot'nl case of all mankind since the fall. It was 
our (iod that we principally lost, while we were shut 
out from his gracious presence. When Christ comes 
with regenerating, saving grace, he finds no man sit- 
ting still, but all posting on to eternal ruin, and making 
haste towards hell: till, by conviction, he first bring 
them to a stand, and, by conversion, turn first their 
hearts, and then their lives, sincerely to himself. 

4. Here is pre-snpposed, not only a distance from 
this rest, but also the knowledge of that distance. If 



the SAINT'S i:vek lasting rest. 9 

a man have lost his way, and know it not, he seeks 
not to return : if lie lose his gold, and know it not, he 
seeks it not. Therefore they that never knew they 
Mere without God, never yet enjoyed him; and they 
that never knew they were in the way to hell, did 
never yet know the way to heaven. Nay, there will 
not only be a knowledge of this distance, and lost 
estate, but also affections corresponding to this. Can 
a man be brought to find himself on the very brink of 
hell, and not tremble? Or to find he has lost God 
and his soul, and not cry out, I am undone ? The 
reason why so few obtain this rest is, they will not be 
convinced or made sensible that they are, in point of 
title, distant from it, and, in point of practice, contrary 
to it. 

5. Here is also pre-supposed a superior moving 
cause, and an influence therefrom, else we should all 
stand still, and would no more move a step forward 
toward our rest, than the inferior wheels in a watch 
would stir, if you take away the spring, or the first 
mover. This first mover is God. The case is clear 
in good actions ; if God move us not, we cannot move. 
Take heed of being estranged or separated from God, 
or of slacking your daily expectations of renewed help, 
or of growing insensible of the necessity of the con- 
tinual influence and assistance of the Spirit. When 
you once begin to depend on your own understanding 
or resolution, for duty and holy walking, you are then 
in a dangerous declining state. In every duty remem- 
ber Christ's words, " Without me ye can do nothing :" 
and those of Paul, " Not that we are sufficient of our- 
selves to think any thing as of ourselves, but our suf- 
ficiency is of God." 

6. Here is pre-supposed an internal principle of life 
in the person moving. God moves not man like a 
a stone, but by enduing him first with life, not to 
enable him to move without God, but to qualify him 
to move himself, in subordination to God the first 
mover. 

7. Here is pre-supposed before rest, an actual motion. 
Rest is the end of motion : no motion, no rest. Chris. 



10 Til): BAUrr'fl EVKRLASTING REST. 

ti;uiit\' is not a Bedentary profession and employment ; 
nor doefl i\ eonsist in mere negatives. Not doing good, 
b noi the lead evil. Sitting still will lose you heaven, 

U well as it* you run from it. I know that " when we 
have done all, we arc unprofitable servants ;" and that 
he cannoi be a Christian who relies upon the supposed 
merit of his works: but yet, he that hides his talent, 
shall receive the wages of a slothful servant. 

8. Here is pre-supposed not only motion, but such 
motion as is rightly ordered and directed toward the 
end. It is not all motion, labour, seeking, that brings 
to rest ; every way leads not to this end ; but he whose 
goodness has appointed the end, has in his wisdom, 
and by his sovereign authority, appointed the way. 
the pains that sinners take, and worldlings take, but 
not for this rest ! the pains and cost that many an 
ignorant and superstitious soul is at for this rest, but 
all in vain ! How many " have a zeal for God, but 
not according to knowledge ! Who being ignorant of 
God's righteousness, and going about to establish their 
own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to 
the righteousness of God;" nor known, "that Christ 
is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that 
believeth." The truth is, Christ is the only way to 
the Father ; yet faith is the way to Christ ; and gospel 
obedience, or faith and works, the way for those to 
walk in, that are in Christ. 

9. Here is pre-supposed not only motion rightly 
ordered, but strong and constant motion, which may 
reach the end. If there be not strength put to the 
bow, the arrow will not reach the mark. They that 
have been most holy, watchful, painful to get faith and 
assurance, do find, when they come to die, all too little. 
We daily see the best Christians when dying, repent 
their negligence; but I never knew any then repent 
their diligence and holiness. An easy, dull profession 
of religion which encounters no difficulties and takes 
no pains, is a sad sign of an unsound heart. If the 
way to heaven be not far harder than the world ima- 
gines, then Christ and his apostles knew not the way, 
or else they have deceived us ; for they have told us, 



THE SAINT'S EVERLASTING REST. 11 

that the kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence , that 
the gate is strait, and the way narrow ; and we must 
strive, if we will enter, for many shall seek to enter 
and not be able ; and that the righteous themselves are 
scarcely saved. If ever souls obtain salvation in the 
world's common, careless, easy way, then I will say, 
there is a nearer road found out than ever God has 
revealed in the Scriptures to the sons of men. 

I have seen this doctrine also thrown aside with 
contempt by others, who say, What ! do you set us to 
work for heaven? Does our duty do any thing? 
Has not Christ done all ? Is not this to make him a 
half Saviour, and to preach the law ? 

I reply, it is to preach the law of Christ ; his subjects 
are not lawless. It is to preach duty to Christ ; none 
is a more exact requirer of duty or hater of sin than 
he. Christ has done, and will do, all his work ; and 
therefore is a perfect Saviour. But yet he leaves for 
us a work too. It is not a Saviour offered only, but 
received also, that must save us. It is not the blood 
of Christ shed only, but applied also, that must fully 
deliver us. Nor is it applied for the justification or 
salvation of a sleepy soul ; nor does Christ carry us to 
heaven in a chair of security. Where he will pardon, 
he will make you pray, " Forgive us our trespasses ;" 
and where he will give righteousness, he will give a 
hungering and thirsting after it. It is not through any 
imperfection in Christ that the righteous are scarcely 
saved, but through our own imperfection in duty. 
Our righteousness, which the law of works requires, 
and by which it is satisfied, is wholly in Christ, and 
not one grain in ourselves ; nor must we dare to think 
of patching up a legal righteousness of Christ's and 
our own together. But yet we must personally fulfil the 
conditions of the new covenant, and so have a personal 
evangelical righteousness, or never be saved by Christ's 
meritorious righteousness. Therefore, say not, It is 
not duty that must save us, but Christ ; for it is Christ 
in a way of duty. As duty cannot save us without 
Christ, so Christ will not save us without duty. 

And as this motion must be strong, so it must be 



13 J H H NATURE OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

constant and persevering, or it will fall short of rest 
To begin in the spirit and end in the flesh will not 
bring the saints to Heaven; The certainty of the 
saints* perseverance, does not render admonition to 
constancy useless. Men seemingly as holy as the best 
of us, have fallen away. He that knew it to be im- 
able to deceive the elect, yei saw it necessary to 
warn us that he only - that endureth to the end, shall 
»ved." Christ's own disciples must be commanded 
to continue in bis love, and that by keeping his com- 
mandments. The promises of Heaven in the epistles 
to the seven churches of Asia, are, in like manner, all 
addressed "To him that overcometh," 

All these things are implied in a Christian's motion, 
and so pre-supposed to this rest; and he only that has 
the pre-requisite qualifications shall have the crown. 
Here, therefore, should Christians lay out their utmost 
care and industry. See to your part, and God will 
certainly see to his part. Look to your hearts and 
duties, in which God is ready with assisting grace, and 
he will see that you lose not the reward. The rest is 
glorious, and God is faithful. Christ's death is suffi- 
cient, and the promise is universal, free, and true. 
You need not fear missing heaven through the defi- 
ciency or fault of any of these. But yet for all this, 
the falseness of your own hearts, if you look not to 
them, may undo you. If you doubt of this, believe 
the Holy Ghost : " Having a promise left us of entering 
into his rest, lei us fear lest any of you should seem to 
some short of it." 



CHAPTER I. 

THK NATURE OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

We proceed to consider, first, the nature of this Rest. 
Let US not remain in the outward court only ; let us 



THE NATURE OF THE HEAVENLY REST. IS 

ascend the steps; let us look within the veil. Hut, 
alas! how little know I of that whereof I am about 
to speak! The glimpse which Paul had, revealed 

that which could not or must not be uttered. But if 
he had had a tongue to utter it, it would have done 
no good, unless his hearers had possessed understand- 
ings to comprehend it. If he had spoken the things 
of heaven in the language of heaven, and none had 
understood ihat language, what better had we been? 
The Lord open our eyes and show both you and me 
his inheritance ; not, however, as Balaam, whose eyes 
were opened to see the goodliness of Jacob's tents, 
and of Israel's tabernacles, in which he had no portion ; 
nor as Moses, who had only a discovery, but not the 
possession, and saw the land which he never entered ; 
but as the pearl was revealed to the merchant in the 
gospel, who rested not till he had sold all he had, and 
bought it ; or as heaven was opened to blessed Stephen, 
which he was shortly to enter, and the glory shown 
him which was soon to be his own possession. 

I. This rest implies a cessation from motion or action ; 
not, however, of all action, but merely of that which 
partakes of the nature of a means, and implies the 
absence of the end. When we enter the haven, 
we have done sailing ; when the workman receives 
his wages, it implies he has done his work ; when 
we are at our journey's end, we have done with the 
way. All means cease when we have the end. 
" Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail : whether 
there be tongues, they shall cease : whether there be 
knowledge," so far as it had the nature of a means, 
and was imperfect, " it shall vanish away." In like 
manner, faith may be said to cease, for the objects of 
faith shall be in possession. There shall be no more 
prayer, because no more necessity, but the full enjoy- 
ment of what we prayed for. Neither shall we need 
to fast, and weep, and watch any more, being out of 
the reach of sin and temptations. Nor will there be 
further use for instructions and exhortations ; preaching 
is done ; sacraments are useless ; the ministry of man 

2 



1 I THE NATURE OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

968; the labourers are called in, because the liar 
vest is gathered, the taxes burned, and the work 
finished; the onregenerate are past hope, and the 

saints part fear, fot ever. Much less shall there be 
any need of labouring Tor inferior ends, as here we do, 
seeing they will all resolve themselves into the ocean 
of the ultimate end. and the lesser good be wholly 
swallowed up of the greatest 

II. This rest implies perfect freedom from all the 
evils that accompanied us in our course on earth, as 
Well as from those eternal flames which the neglecters 
of Christ will inevitably endure. As God will not 
know the wicked so as to own them, so neither will 
heaven know iniquity so as to receive it. For "there 
shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, 
neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh 
a lie." No such thing as grief and sorrow is known 
there. Nor is there such a thing as a languid body, 
helpless infancy, decrepit age, pining sickness, con- 
suming care, harassing fears, nor any thing that de- 
serves the name of evil. We did " weep and lament," 
when "the world did rejoice;" but our "sorrow is 
turned into joy, and our joy shall no man take 
from us." 

III. This rest implies the highest degree of perfec- 
tion, both of soul and body. This will qualify them 
to enjoy the glory, and to taste the sweetness of it. 
Here "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have 
entered into the heart of man the things which God 
hath prepared for them that love him;" for this eye 
of flesh is not capable of seeing them, nor this ear, of 
hearing them, nor this heart, of understanding them ; 
but there the eye, the ear, and heart, are made capable 
of comprehending and enjoying them. The more per- 
fect the sight is, the more delightful the beautiful 
object ; the more pure the appetite, the more delicious 
the food ; the more musical the ear, the more pleasant 
the melody. In like manner, the more perfect the 
soul, the more joyous to us are those joys, and the 
more glorious that glory. 



THE NATURE OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 15 

IV. This rest implies the near fruition of God, the 
chief good. And here, wonder not, Christian, if I 
be at a loss in my apprehensions and in my expres- 
sions. If to the beloved disciple, who had beheld 
Christ, and Moses, and Elias, on the mount of Trans- 
figuration, and who leaned on his Master's bosom, it 
did not « appear what we shall be," but only in general, 
that when Christ " shall appear we shall be like him," 
no wonder if I know but little. When I know so 
little of God, I cannot know much what it is to enjoy 
him ; when I know so little of my own soul while it is 
here in this tabernacle, how little must I needs know 
of the infinite Majesty, or of the state of this soul, when 
it shall be advanced in that enjoyment ? What strange 
conceptions has a man born blind of the sun and its 
light ; or a man born deaf, of the nature of sounds and 
music ? So we yet want that sense by which God 
can be clearly known. 

As all good whatsoever is comprised in God, and 
every thing in the creature is but a drop of this ocean ; 
so all the glory of the blessed is comprised in the en- 
joyment of God, and if there be any mediate joys 
there, they are but drops from this. " Father, I will 
that those whom thou hast given me, may be with 
me where I am, that they may behold my glory which 
thou hast given me." Every word is full of life and 
joy. If the queen of Sheba had cause to say of Solo- 
mon's glory, " Happy are thy men, and happy are 
these thy servants that stand continually before thee, 
and that hear thy wisdom," then surely they that stand 
continually before God, and see his glory, are some- 
what more than happy. To them Christ will " give 
to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the 
paradise of God." Yea, " He will make them pillars 
in the temple of God, and they shall go no more out : 
and he will write upon them the name of his God, and 
the name of the city of his God, new Jerusalem, which 
cometh down out of heaven from God." Nay, more, 
if more can be, " He will grant them to sit with him 
in his throne, even as he also overcame and has sat 
down with the Father in his throne. How delight- 



16 TlIK NATURE OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

Mis the following representation: "These are they 
who came out of great tribulation, and have washed 
their robes* and made them white in the blood of the 

Lamb: Therefore are they before the throne of God, 
and serve him day and night in his temple: And he 

that sitteth o\i the throne shall dwell among them. 
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; 
neither shall the sim light on them, nor any heat: For 
the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed 
thrni, and shall lead them unto living fountains of 
water; and God shall wipe away all tears from their 
eyes." J low sublime, how transporting is the follow- 
ing description : " I heard a great voice out of heaven, 
saying, liehold the tabernacle of God is with men, and 
he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, 
and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming 
down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride 
adorned for her husband, having the glory of God, and 
his light was like unto a stone most precious, even 
like a jasper-stone, clear as crystal, and it had a wall 
great and high, and it had twelve gates, and at the 
gates twelve angels ; and the foundations of the wall 
were garnished with all manner of precious stones ; 
and the twelve gates were twelve pearls ; every seve- 
ral gate was of one pearl ; and the street of the city 
was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And the 
city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to 
shine in it, for the glory of God doth lighten it; and 
the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of 
them that are saved, shall walk in the light of it; and 
they shall reign for ever and ever." 

What presumption would it have been, ever to have 
thought or spoken of such things, if God had not spoken 
them before us! I durst not have thought of the 
saints 5 preferment in this life, as the Scriptures set it 
forth, had it not been declared by God himself. What 
arrogance would it have been to talk of being sons of 
God ; of having fellowship and communion with him; 
of dwelling in him and he in us, if this had not been 
( Sod's own language ! How much less durst we have 



THE NATURE OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 17 

thought of shining as the sun ; of being joint-heirs with 
Christ ; of judging the world ; of sitting on Christ's 
throne ; of being one with him, if we had not all this 
from the mouth, and under the hand of God ! But, 
u hath he not said it, and shall he not do it ? Hath 
he not spoken, and shall he not make it good ?" Yes, 
as the Lord God is true, " Thus shall it be done to the 
man whom Christ delighteth to honour." Be of good 
cheer, Christian, the time is near, when God and thou 
shall be near, — as near, indeed, as thou canst well 
desire. Thou shalt be his child, and he thy father ; 
thou shalt be an heir of his kingdom. And what more 
canst thou desire ? Thou shalt be one with him, who 
is one with the Father. Read what he asked for thee 
from his Father : " That they all may be one, as thou 
Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be 
one in us ; and the glory which thou gavest me, I have 
given them, that they may be one, even as we are 
one ; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be 
made perfect in one, that the world may know that 
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast 
loved me." 

V. This rest implies a sweet and constant exercise 
of the powers of the soul and body in this fruition of 
God. If grace make a Christian differ so much from 
what he was, that one could say to his companion, 
I am not the man I was, — how much more will glory 
make us differ ! We may then much more say, This 
is not the body I had, these are not the senses I had. 
As God perfects our senses and enlarges our capacity, 
so will he increase the enjoyment of those senses, and 
fill up with himself all that capacity. This much is 
certain, that it will be the everlasting work of the 
saints, to stand before the throne of God and the Lamb, 
and to praise him for ever and ever. As their eyes and 
hearts shall be filled with his knowledge, with his glory, 
and with his love, so shall their mouths be filled with 
his praise. Oh, blessed employment, — to sing for ever, 
" Thou art worthy, Lord, to receive honour, glory, 
and power, for thou hast created all things, and for 
thy pleasure they are and were created." — " Worthy 

2* 



I s Tin: NATURE OP PHJB HEAVENLY REST. 

is the Lamb to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, 
ength, and honour, and -lory, and blessing; for 
i wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy 
blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, 
and nation; and hast made us unto our God, kings 
and priests." — * Alleluia, salvation, and glory, and 
honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: Praise 
our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both 
small and great. Alleluia : for the Lord God omnipo- 
tent reigneth." Oh, Christians! this is the blessed 
rest; a rest, yet perpetual activity. For, "they rest 
no* da) nor night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God 
Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." Go 
on, therefore, ye saints, while ye are on earth, in 
this divine es of praise. 

As the bodily senses have their proper action, 
whereby they receive and enjoy their objects, so does 
the soul, in the exercise of its own powers, enjoy its 
own objects. Some of these powers we shall briefly 
notice^ 

1. The Understanding. — How noble a faculty of 
the soul is the understanding! It can compass the 
earth ; it can measure the sun, and moon, and stars ; it 
can foretell each eclipse to a minute, many years before. 
Bui this is the height of its excellency, that it can 
know Cod, who is infinite, and who made all these. 
Christian, when, after long gazing heavenward, thou 
hast goj a glimpse of Christ, dost thou not sometimes 
sr(,,| i < () have been with Paul in the third heaven, 
whether in the body or out of the body thou canst not 
tell, and to have seen things unutterable? Art thou 
not, with Peter, transported almost beyond thyself, 
and ready to say, «Master,it is good to be here?" 
Didst thou never look so long upon the Sun of 
Righteousness, till thine eyes were dazzled with his 

onishing glory ? and did not tlie splendour thereof 
make all things below seem dark to thee? Especially, 
in thy day of suffering for Christ, when he usually 
appears most manifestly to his people, didst thou never 
one walking with thee in the midst of the fiery 
furnace, like to the Son of God? Believe me, Chris- 



THE NATURE OF TIIE HEAVENLY REST. 19 

tians, yea, believe God, all you have yet known of 
God, is as nothing to what you shall know; in com- 
parison of that, it scarcely deserves to be called know- 
ledge. Our present childish thoughts of God, will then 
give place to a more manly knowledge. " Whether," 
a Paul, - there be knowledge, it shall vanish away : 
we know in part. But when that which is per- 
fect is come, then that which is in part shall be done 
away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I 
thought as a child, I understood as a child ; but when 
I became a man, I put away childish things. For 
now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to 
face : Now I know in part, but then I shall know, 
even as also I am known. " 

2. The Memory. — This faculty will not be idle or 
useless in the heavenly world. To stand on that 
mount, whence we can see the wilderness and Canaan 
both at once ; to stand in heaven, and look back on 
earth, and weigh them together in the balance, — how 
will it transport the soul, and make it exclaim, " Is 
this the inheritance that cost so dear a price as the 
blood of the Son of God ? Thrice blessed love, that 
invented such a plan, and condescended to carry it 
into execution ! Is this the end of believing ? Is this 
the end of the Spirit's workings ? Have the gales of 
Divine influence blown me into such a harbour ? 
blessed way, and thrice blessed end ! Is this the 
glory of which the Scriptures spoke, and ministers 
preached so much ? Now I see the gospel is indeed 
glad tidings ; tidings of great joy to all nations ! Are 
my mourning, my fasting, my sad humblings, my 
heavy walking come to this ? Are all my afflictions, 
sickness, languishing, fears of death, come to this ? Are 
all Satan's temptations and the world's scorns, come to 
this ? Unworthy soul ! Is this the place to which thou 
earnest so unwillingly ? Didst thou hesitate to leave all, 
deny all, and suffer all, for this ? Wast thou loath to die, 
to come to this ? false heart, didst thou make me 
doubt the truth of this glory ? Didst thou question 
the truth of the Scripture which promised this ? Didst 
thou show me improbabilities, and draw me to distrust 



20 THE NATURE OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

its declarations? my soul! art thou not now 
ashamed that ever thou didst question that love which 
has brought thee hither? Art thou not ashamed of 
all thy hard thoughts of God, of all thy repining at 

those providences, which have had such an end? Now 
thou art convinced, that the ways which thou calledst 
bitter were necessary; that he was saving thee, as 
well when he crossed thy desires, as when he granted 
them : as well when he broke thy heart, as when he 
bound it up." 

Tims, as the memory of the wicked will eternally 
augment their torment, so the memory of the saints 
will for ever increase their joys. 

3. The Affections. — The full, the highest source of 
enjoyment, arc the affections of love and joy. " God 
is love," says John, "and he that dwelleth in love, 
dwelleth in God, and God in him." The exercise of 
this affection, in any case, carries much delight along 
with it ; ('specially when the object appears deserving, 
and the affection is strong. But what will it be, 
when perfect love shall have the strongest, inces- 
sant acting upon the most perfect object — the ever 
blessed God ! Now the poor soul complains, " that 
I could love Christ more !" but then thou shalt not be 
able to forbear loving him. Now thou knowest little 
of his ainiahleness, and therefore lovest little: then 
thine eye will affect thy heart, and the continual 
contemplation of his perfect beauty, will keep thee 
in continual transports of love. Christians, does it 
now stir up your love, to remember all the experi- 
ences of this grace; to look upon a life of mercies? 
Docs not kindness melt you, and the sunshine of 
Divine goodness warm your frozen hearts? What 
will it then do, when yon shall live in love, and have 
all in him who is all and in all ? 

This is not all. He returneth love for love ; nay, a 
thousand times more. As perfect as we shall be, we 
cannot reach the measure of his love. Did he love 
thee an enemy, a sinner, and own thee when thou didst 

disclaim thyself? And will he not now immeasurably 

love thee as a son, a perfect saint, who returnest some 



THE NATURE OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 21 

love for love? Thou shalt be eternally embraced in 
the anus of that love, which was from everlasting, and 
Will extend to everlasting; of that love, which brought 
the Son of God from heaven to earth, from earth to 
the cross, from the cross to the grave, from the grave 
to glory. Know this, believer, to thy everlasting com- 
fort, that if these arms have once embraced thee, 
neither sin, nor hell, nor any creature, shall force thee 
thence for ever. The sanctuary is inviolable, and the 
rock impregnable, whither thou hast fled. Thou hast 
not now to deal with an inconstant creature, but with 
him " with whom there is no variableness, nor shadow of 
turning." You may then exclaim, " I am persuaded, that 
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor 
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, 
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to sepa- 
rate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus 
our Lord." Infinite love must needs be a mystery to a 
finite capacity. No wonder, if angels desire to pry 
into this mystery. No wonder, if it be the study of 
the saints here " to comprehend the breadth, and length, 
and depth, and height of this love, which passeth 
knowledge." 

The affection of joy, also, has much share in this 
fruition. This is that to which all the rest lead, and 
in which they terminate, even the inconceivable com- 
placency which the blessed feel in their seeing, know- 
ing, remembering, loving and being beloved by God. 
Oh, what will that joy be, where the soul being per- 
fectly prepared for joy, it shall be our work, our busi- 
ness, eternally to rejoice ! " To him that overcometh 
will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also 
overcame and am sat down with my Father on his 
throne." What sayest thou to all this, Oh ! thou sad and 
drooping soul, that now spendest thy days in sorrow, 
thy breath in sighings, and thy voice in groanings ; who 
minglest thy bread with tears : — what sayest thou to 
this great change, from all sorrow to the highest joy ? 
" Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in 
the morning. Oh, blessed morning ! thrice blessed 
morning ! Poor, humble, drooping soul, how would 



22 PREPARATIVES TO THE HEAVENLY REST. 

it fill thee with joy now, if a voice from heaven should 
assure thee of the love of God, of the pardon of thy 
sins, and of thy part in eternal joys ! Oh ! what then 
will be thy joy, when thy actual possession shall con- 
vince thee of thy title, and thou shalt be in heaven 
before thou art well aware ; and when the angels shall 
bring thee to Christ, and when Christ shall take thee 
by the hand, and conduct thee to thy purchased pos- 
session, and bid thee welcome to his rest, and present 
thee unspotted before his Father, and give thee thy 
place about his throne ! 

But it is not thy joy only, it is a mutual joy as well 
as b mutual love. Is there such joy in heaven at thy 
conversion, and will there be none at thy glorification? 
Will not the angels welcome thee thither, and congra- 
tulate thy safe arrival? Yea, it is the joy of Jesus 
Christ ; for now he beholds the end of his incarnation, 
and sufferings, and death, when "he is glorified in his 
saints, and admired in all them that believe." This is 
his harvest, when he shall reap the fruit of his labours ; 
when he shall " see of the travail of his soul, and shall 
be satisfied." 

Yea, the Father himself will joy, too, in our joy. 
Christian, write these words in letters of gold, " The 
Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty ; He will 
save ; He will rejoice over thee with joy ; He will rest 
in his love ; He will joy over thee with singing/ 



99 



CHAPTER II. 

THE PREPARATIVES TO THE HEAVENLY REST. 

Let us consider the eminent antecedents, the great 
preparatives, the notable introduction to this rest; for 
the porch of this temple is exceedingly glorious, and 
the gate of it is called "Beautiful." Here these four 
things offer themselves to our observation, as the four 



PREPARATIVES TO THE HEAVENLY REST. 23 

corners of this porch: — The glorious appearing of the 
Son of God, at the last day : His raising of our bodies 
from the dust, and uniting them again with the soul : 
His public and solemn proceedings in their judgment : 
His solemn celebration of their coronation, and his 
enthroning them in glory. Follow but this fourfold 
stream to the head, and it will bring you to the garden 
of Eden. 

I. Contemplate the coming of Christ at the last day 
as connected with the everlasting rest of his people. 
To this end it is intended ; and to this end it is of appa- 
rent necessity. For his people's sake he sanctified 
himself to his office ; for their sake he came into the 
world, suffered, died, rose, ascended; and for their 
sake it is that he will return. " If," says he, " I go 
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and 
receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may 
be also." The bridegroom's departure was not upon 
divorce ; he did not leave us with a purpose to return 
no more ; he has left pledges enough to assure us of 
his return. We have his word, his promises, his 
sacraments, which show forth his death till he come ; 
and his Spirit to direct, sanctify, and comfort us 
till he return. We have frequent tokens of love from 
him to show us that he forgets not his purpose nor us. 
Alas ! my fellow Christians, what would we do if our 
Lord should not return ? Fear not, it cannot be. He 
that would come to suffer, will surely come to triumph. 
He that would come to purchase, will surely come to 
possess. Alas ! where else were all our hopes ? What 
were become of our faith, our prayers, our tears, and 
our waiting ? What were all the patience of the 
saints worth to them ? Would we not be of all men 
most miserable ? Christians, has Christ made us for- 
sake all the world, and be forsaken by all the world ; 
to hate all, and to be hated by all ; and all this for him, 
that we might have him instead of all ? And will he, 
after all this, forget us and forsake us himself? Far 
be such a thought from our hearts ! But why stayed 
he not with his people while he was here ? Why, — 
was not his work on earth done ? Must he not receive 



9 1 PREPARATIVES TO TIIE HEAVENLY REST. 

tlif recompense of reward, and enter into his glory 5 
.Musi he not take possession of heaven in our behalf? 
Mum he n"i go to prepare a place for us? Must he 
not intercede with the Father, and plead his sufferings, 
and be filled wilh the Spirit to send it forth, and re~ 
oeive authority to subdue his enemies? 

But oh ! what a day will that be, when Christ shall 
com.- from heaven to set his captives free! It will 
lint be such a coming as his first was, in poverty and 
contempt He will not come to be buffeted, and 
scorned, and crucified again. He will not come, Oh ! 
careless world! to be slighted and neglected by you 
any more. And yet that coming, which was necessa- 
rily an infirmity and reproach for our sakes, wanted 
not its glory. If the angels of heaven must be the 
messengers of that coming, as being "tidings of great 
joy to all people ;" and the heavenly host must cele- 
brate his nativity in the sublimest strains, saying, 
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
good will towards men;" Oh! with what shoutings 
will saints and angels at that day proclaim " Glory to 
God, and peace and good will towards men !" If the 
stars of heaven must lead men from remote parts of 
the world to come to worship a child in a manger, how 
will the glory of his next appearing constrain all the 
world to acknowledge his sovereignty ! If he ride into 
Jerusalem amidst hosannahs, - Blessed be the King that 
cometh in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven, and 
glory in the highest," Oli ! with wbat proclamations 
of blessings, peace, and glory will he enter the new 
Jerusalem! If, when he was in the form of a ser- 
vant, they cry out, « Wbat manner of man is this, that 
even the Winds and the sea obey him?" what will 
they say, when they shall see him coming in his glory! 
"Then sball appear tbe sign of the Son of Man in 
heaven, and then sball all the tribes of the earth mourn, 
and they sball see tbe Son of M;ui coming in the clouds 
of heaven with p<>w< randgreal glory." Tbe promise 
of bis coming and of our deliverance was comfortable. 
What will it he thus to see him with all the glorious 
attendance of his angels, come in person to deliver us ! 



PREPARATIVES TO THE HEAVENLY REST. 25 

"The mighty God, the Lord hath spoken, and called 
the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down 
thereof Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God 
hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep 
silence. A fire shall devour before him, and it shall 
be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call 
to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he 
may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto 
me, those that have made a covenant with me by 
sacrifice ; and the heavens shall declare his righteous- 
ness ; for God is judge himself. " The coming of Christ 
is frequently mentioned by the prophets as the great 
support of his people's spirits ; and whenever the apos- 
tles would quicken to duty, or comfort and encourage 
patient waiting, they usually do it by mentioning 
Christ's coming. Why then do we not more use this 
consideration as a cordial whenever we want support 
and comfort ? To think and speak of that day with 
horror does well beseem the impenitent sinner, but ill 
the believing saint. Such may be the voice of a be- 
liever ; but it is not the voice of faith. Christians, 
what do we believe, and hope, and wait for, but to see 
that day ? This is Paul's encouragement to modera- 
tion, " The Lord is at hand." This is his consolation 
in the prospect of dissolution : " I have fought a good 
fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- 
ness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me 
at that day ; and not to me only, but unto all them that 
love his appearing." Dost thou long to have him 
come into thy soul with life and comfort, and consider- 
est thyself as but a forlorn orphan, while he seemeth 
absent ? And dost thou not much more long for that 
coming which shall perfect thy life, and joy, and glory ? 
Dost thou rejoice after some short and slender enjoy- 
ment of him in thy heart ? Oh ! how wilt thou then 
rejoice, with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Be- 
lieve it, fellow Christians, this day is not far off ; " for 
yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, 
and will not tarry." And though the unbelieving 
world, and the unbelief of thy heart, may say, * Where 

3 



26 lMlEIWKATIVES TO THE HEAVENLY REST. 

js the promise of his coming? Do not all tilings con- 
tinue as they were from the beginning of the creation V 
Let us know, •• The Lord is not slack concerning 
promise, as some men count slackness. One day- 
is wiih linn as a thousand years, and a thousand years 
as one day." 

When the coi iquering Lion of the tribe of Judah shall 
appeal with all the hosts of heaven ; when he shall 
surprise the careless world as a thief in the night; 
when -as the lightning appeareth in the east, and 
shineth even unto the west," so shall they behold him 
coming, — what a change will the sight of this work 
both w ith the world and with the saints ! Now, poor 
deluded world, where is your mirth and your frivolity ? 
Where is your wealth and your glory? Where that 
profane and careless heart, that slighted Christ and his 
Spirit, and all the oilers of his grace? Where now 
that tongue that mocked the saints and jeered the holy 
ways of God, and laughed at his people's imperfections 
and their own slanders? Ah! your heart condemns 
you, and is ready to sink within you. Even when 
you say, " Peace and safety, then sudden destruction 
shall come upon you, as travail upon a woman with 
child, and ye shall not escape." But, "blessed is that 
faithful and wise servant whom his Lord, when he 
Cometh, shall find watching :" " When the chief Shep- 
herd shall appear, he shall receive a crown of glory 
that fadetb not away." Oh! how should it then be 
the character of a Christian "to wait for the son of 
God from heaven, even Jesus who delivereth us from 
the wrath to come !" And seeing he comes "to be 
glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that 
believe," what thought should gladden our hearts 
more' than the thought of that day ? 0! Christians, 
how heartily should we put up that petition, " Thy 
kingdom come!" "Surely," says he, "I come 
quickly. Amen, even so, come, Lord Jesus." 

II. The second stream that leads to paradise, is that 
great work of Jesus Christ, the raising of our body 
from the dust, and uniting it again to the soul. A 
wonderful effect of infinite power and love ! Yea, 



PREPARATIVES TO THE HEAVENLY REST. 27 

wonderful, indeed, says unbelief, if it be true. What ! 
shall all these scattered bones and dust become a man ? 

\\ thou dispute the power of the Almighty? Dost 
thou object difficulties to Infinite Strength? Let me 
take thee by the hand, and with reverence, as Elihu 
of old, plead for God. Secst thou this massive body 
of the earth ? Upon what foundation does it stand? 

si thou this vast ocean of waters? What limits 
them, and why do they not overflow and drown the 
earth? Whence is that constant ebbing and flowing 
of the tides ? Wilt thou say from the moon, or other 
planets ? And whence have they that influence ? 
Must thou not come to a cause of causes, that can do 
all things ? And does not reason require thee to con- 
ceive of that cause as a perfect intelligence, and volun- 
tary agent ? Look upward ; seest thou that glorious 
body of light, the sun ? How many times larger is it 
than all the earth ! and yet how many thousand miles 
does it run every minute, and that without weariness, 
or failing a moment ! Is not that power which does 
all this able to effect thy resurrection ? Dost thou not 
see as great works as a resurrection every day before 
thine eyes, but that the commonness thereof makes 
thee not admire them ? Is it not as easy to raise the 
dead., as to make heaven and earth, and all of nothing ? 
But if thou wilt not be persuaded, all I shall say more 
to thee is, as the prophet to the prince of Samaria, 
" Thou shalt see it with thine eyes/' but little to thy 
comfort. There is a rest prepared, but thou shalt not 
" enter in, because of unbelief." But as for thee, O 
believing soul, never think to comprehend with thy 
narrow capacity the counsels and ways of thy Maker. 
When, therefore, he speaks, dispute not, but believe. 

Come then, fellow Christians, let us contentedly com- 
mit these bodies to the grave ; that prison shall not 
long contain them. Let us lie down in peace, and 
take our rest ; it will not be an everlasting night, or 
endless sleep. What if we leave the troubles and 
tumults of the world, and enter into the chambers of 
the tomb, and the door be shut upon us, and we hide 
ourselves, as it were, for a little moment, " until the 



28 PREPARATIVES TO THE HEAVENLY REST. 

indignation be over-past !" " Behold, the Lord cometh 
out of his place, to punish the inhabitants of the eartli 
for their iniquity ;" and then the earth shall disclose 
us, and the dust shall hide us no more. As sure as 
we awake in the morning, when we have slept out 
the night, so surely shall we then awake. " We know 
that our Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at 
the latter day upon the earth," and we shall see him 
with these eyes. 

Lay down freely this terrestrial, this natural body; 
thou shalt receive it again a celestial, a spiritual body. 
Though thou lay it down in dishonour, thou shalt re- 
ceive it in glory. Though thou art separated from it 
through weakness, it shall be raised again in mighty 
power. When the trumpet of God shall sound the 
call, " Arise ye dead, and come away," — who shall 
Stay behind ? When he shall call to the earth and the 
sea, earth, give up thy dead, sea, give up thy 
dead, — who shall resist the powerful command ? The 
first that shall be called, are the saints that sleep ; and 
then the saints that are alive shall be changed; for 
Paul hath told us by the word of the Lord, "That they 
which are alive, and remain till the coming of the 
Lord, shall not prevent (or go before) them which are 
asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from 
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch-angel, 
and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ 
shall rise first. Then they which are alive, and 
remain, shall be caught up together with them in the 
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air ; and so shall we 
ever be with the Lord. Wherefore," Christians, 
" comfort one another with these words." This is 
one of the gospel mysteries, " That we shall all be 
changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at 
the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the 
dead shall he raised incorruptible, and we shall be 
changed. For this corruptible must put on incorrup- 
tion; and this mortal, immortality. Then shall be 
brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is 
swallowed up in victory. death, where is thy 
sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be 



PREPARATIVES TO TJIE HEAVENLY REST. 29 

to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord 
Jesus Christ" Triumph now, Christian, in these 
promises; thou shall shortly triumph in their fulfil- 
ment. The grave thai could not keep our Lord, shall 
Dot keep us : He arose for us, and by the same power 
shall we arise. "For if we believe that Jesus died, 
and rose again; even so them also which sleep in 
LS, will God bring with him." Oh, Christian, write 
these sweet words upon thy heart, " Because I live, 
ye shall live also." Let us never look at the grave, 
but let us see the resurrection beyond it. Faith is 
quick-sighted, and can see as far as eternity. There- 
fore, let our hearts be glad, and our glory rejoice ; let 
our flesh also rest in hope ; for he will not leave us in 
the grave, nor suffer us still to see corruption. " Let 
us be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the 
work of the Lord, for as much as we know our labour 
is not in vain in the Lord." 

Thus, Christian, thou seest that Christ, having sanc- 
tified the grave by his burial, and conquered death by 
his resurrection, a dead body and a grave are not now 
so horrid a spectacle to a believing eye. But as our 
Lord was nearest his glory when he was in the grave, 
even so are we. And he that has promised to make 
our bed in sickness, will make the dust as a bed of 
roses. Death shall not dissolve the union betwixt him 
and us, nor turn away his affections from us. But in 
the morning of eternity, he will send his angels, yea, 
come himself, and roll away the stone, and unseal our 
grave, and reach forth his hand, and deliver us alive 
to our Father. 

III. Contemplate the public and solemn process of 
the judgment of the saints, when they shall first them- 
selves be acquitted and justified, and then with Christ 
shall judge the world. Public I may well call it, for 
all the world shall there appear. Young and old, of 
all estates and nations, that ever were from the crea- 
tion to that day, must here come and receive their 
doom. " I saw," says John, " a great white throne, 
and him that sat on it, from whose face the heavens 
and the earth fled away, and there was found no place 

3* 



30 PREPARATIVES TO THE HEAVENLY REST. 

for thorn : And I saw the dead, small and great, stand 
before God : And the dead shall be judged out of those 
things which are. written in the books, according to 
their works, and whosoever is not found written in the 
hook of life, shall he cast into the lake of fire." 
terrible! joyful day I 'Terrible to those who have 
let their lamps go out, and have not watched, but have 
forgotten the coming of the Lord! Joyful to the 
saints, who waited and hoped to see this day ! Then 
shall the world behold the goodness and severity of 
God ; on them who perish severity, but to his chosen 
goodness. Then shall every one give account of his 
stewardship ; every talent of time, health, knowledge, 
mercies, afflictions, means, warnings, must be reckoned 
for. Then the sins of youth, and those which they 
had long forgotten, and even their most secret sins 
shall all be laid open before men and angels. Then 
their own consciences shall cry out against them, and 
call to their remembrance all their misdoings. Oh ! 
which way will the wretched sinner look ? Oh ! who 
can conceive the terrible thoughts of his heart ? Now 
the world cannot help him ; his old companions can- 
not help him ; the saints neither can nor will. None 
but the Lord Jesus can ; but there is the soul-killing 
misery, he will not. Nay, without violating the truth 
oi* his word, he cannot ; though otherwise, in regard 
of his absolute power, he might. The time was, sin- 
ner, when Christ would, but you would not; and now, 
Oh how lain would you, but he will not. Then he 
followed thee in vain with entreaties, but thy ear and 
heart were shut against all. Now thou wilt cry, 
" Lord, Lord, open to us ;" but he shall say, " Depart 
from me, I know you not, ye workers of iniquity." 
What then remains but to cry to the hills and to the 
mountains, u Fall upon us, and hide us from the face 
of Him that sittetb upon the throne, and from the 
wrath of the Lamb." Hut all in vain; for thou hast 
the Lord of the hills and the mountains for thine 
enemy, whose voice they will obey, and not thine. 
Sinner, make not light of this; for as thou livest 
(except a thorough change prevent it) thou shall 



PREPARATIVES TO THE HEAVENLY REST, 31 

shortly, to thy inconceivable horror, see that day. Oh, 
sinner ! will thy cups then be wine or gall ? Will it 
oomfort thee to think of all thy mirth and gaiety, and 
how pleasantly thy time slipt away? Will it do thee 
good to think how rich thou wast, and how honour- 
able ? Or will it not rather wound thy very soul to 
remember thy folly, and make thee, cry out, with an- 
guish of heart. 

Hut why tremblest thou, humble, gracious soul ? 
Cannot the enemies and slighters of Christ be foretold 
their doom, but thou must quake ? Do I make sad 
the soul that God would not have sad ? Doth not thy 
Lord know his own sheep, who have heard his voice 
and followed him ? He that would not lose one 
Noah in a common deluge, when him only he had 
found faithful in all the earth; he that would not 
overlook one Lot in Sodom, — nay, that could do 
nothing till he went forth, — will he forget thee in that 
day ? " The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly 
out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust to the day 
of judgment to be punished." He knoweth how to 
make the same day the greatest for terror to his foes, 
and yet the greatest for joy to his people. Indeed, if 
our judge were our enemy, as he is to the world, then 
we might well fear. But our judge is " Christ who 
died, yea, rather who is risen again, who also maketh 
intercession for us." Oh, what inexpressible joy may 
this afford to a believer, that our blessed Lord, who 
loveth our souls, and whom our souls love, shall be 
our judge ? Christian, did he come down from 
heaven, and suffer, and weep, and bleed, and die for 
thee, — and will he now condemn thee ? Hath it cost 
him so dear to save thee ; and will he now himself 
destroy thee ? Hath he done the most of the work 
already, in redeeming, regenerating, justifying, sancti- 
fying, and preserving thee ; and will he now undo all 
again ? Will he not finish what he hath begun ? Let 
that day make the devils tremble, and the wicked 
tremble ; but let us leap for joy. Though we cannot 
plead not guilty, in regard of fact ; yet, being par- 
doned, we shall be acquitted by the proclamation of 



32 PREPARATIVES TO THE HEAVENLY REST. 

Christ. The sentence of pardon, passed by the Spint 
and conscience within ns, used to be exceedingly- 
sweet ; but this will fully and finally resolve the ques- 
tion, and leave no room for doubting again forever. 

Indeed, we shall be so far from the dread of that 
judgment, that we ourselves shall become the judges. 
Christ will take his people, as it were, into commis- 
sion with him ; and they shall sit and approve his 
righteous decisions. Oh, fear not now the reproaches, 
scorns, and censures of those that must then be judged 
by you. "Do ye not know," saith Paul, " that the 
saints shall judge the world?" Nay, "Know ye not 
that we shall judge angels?" Surely, were it not the 
word of Christ that declares it, this advancement would 
seem incredible, and the language arrogant. O that 
the careless world were but wise to consider this, and 
that they would remember their latter end ! — that they 
would be now of the same mind, as they will be when 
they shall see " the heavens pass away with a great 
noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat ; the 
earth also, and the works that are therein burnt up !" 
But rejoice, O ye saints ; yet watch, and what you 
have, hold fast till your Lord come, and study that use 
of this doctrine which the apostle propounds, " Seeing 
then all these things shall be dissolved, what manner 
of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and 
godliness, looking for, and hasting to the coming of the 
day of God." 

IV. The last and highest step to the saint's advance- 
ment, is, their solemn coronation, enthronement, and 
reception into the kingdom. For as Christ, their 
head, is anointed both king and priest, so under him 
are his people made unto God both kings and priests, 
to reign and offer praises for ever. The crown of 
righteousness, which was laid up for them, the Lord 
the righteous Judge shall give them at that day. They 
have been faithful to the death, and therefore they 
shall receive the crown of life. Christ will grant them 
to sit down with him on his own throne ; and will give 
them power over the nations, even as he received of 
his Father. He will give them possession with these 



PREPARATIVES TO THE IIEAVENLY REST. 33 

applauding expressions, "Well done, good and faith- 
ful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, 
I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou 
into the joy of thy Lord." 

But let us view more nearly the solemn yet delight 
fill sentence which he will pronounce upon them. 
u Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
prepared for you from the foundation of the world." 
Here every word is full of life and joy. Come : This 
is holding forth the golden sceptre to warrant our ap- 
proach unto this glory. We were wont to hear, 
" Come, take up your cross, and follow me." Though 
that was sweet, yet this is much more so. Ye 
blessed : Blessed, indeed, when that mouth shall so 
pronoui^ce us ; for though the world has accounted us 
accursed, and we have been ready to account ourselves 
so, yet certainly those that he blesses are blessed, and 
those only whom he curses are cursed. Of my 
Father : Blessed in the Father's love as well as the 
Son's, for they are one. The Father has testified his 
love toward them in their election, donation to Christ, 
and accepting his ransom, as the Son has also testified 
his, in laying down his life for them. Inherit : No 
longer bondmen, nor servants only, nor children under 
age, who differ not in possession, but only in title, from 
servants. But now we are heirs of God, and joint- 
heirs with Christ. The Kingdom : No less than the 
kingdom ! To be King of kings, and Lord of lords, is 
our Lord's own proper title ; but to be kings and to 
reign with him is ours. Prepared for you : God is 
the Alpha as well as the Omega of our blessedness. 
He prepared the kingdom for us, and then prepared 
us for the kingdom. For you : Not for believers only 
in general, but for you personally and determinately. 
From the foundation of the world : Not only 
from the promise after Adam's fall, but, as the phrase 
usually signifies, -from eternity. These were the eter- 
nal thoughts of God's love toward us, and this is what 
he purposed for us. 

Thus we have seen the Christian landed safely in 
Paradise, and conveyed honourably to his everlasting 



34 EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

rest Let us now view a little farther those mansions, 
consider his privileges, and see whether there be any 
glory like unto this glory. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

Let us draw nearer and contemplate the excellent 
properties and admirable attributes of this rest, which, 
as so many jewels, shall adorn the crown of the saints. 
I. It is a singular honour and ornament, in the title 
of the Saints' Rest, that it is called the " Purchased 
possession ;" that it is the fruit of the blood of the Son 
of God, the chief fruit, yea, the end and perfection of 
all the fruits of that blood. "Greater love hath no 
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his 
friends." Oh ! to have our Redeemer ever before our 
eyes, and the liveliest sense of his dying, bleeding love 
upon our souls. Now we are so stupefied with vile 
and senseless hearts, that we can read all the story of 
his bloody agony and passion, and hear all his sad 
complaints, with dulness and without emotion. But 
we shall then leave these hearts of stone behind us, 
and the sin that here so closely besets us, shall not be 
able to follow us into glory. With what astonishing 
apprehensions, then, will redeemed saints everlastingly 
behold their blessed Redeemer ! What a feast will it 
be, " when Ave shall drink of the fruit of the vine new 
with him in the kingdom of his Father!" David 
would not drink of the waters which he longed for, 
because they were the blood of those men who jeop- 
arded their lives lor them ; and thought them litter to 
he offered to God, than to be used by himself. Hut 
we shall value these waters the more highly, and 
drink them the more sweetly, because they are the 
tlood of Christ, not jeoparded only, but shed for us. 



EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLV IU'.st. 35 

They will be the more sweet and precious to us, be- 
cause they were so bitter and dear to him. We usually 
estimate things by the price which they cost. If any 
tiling we enjoy were purchased with the life of our 
dearest friend, how highly would we value it ! Nay, 
if a dying friend deliver but a token of his love, how 
carefully do we preserve it, and still remember him 
when we behold it, as if his own name were written 
on it ! And shall not then the death and blood of our 
Lord everlastingly sweeten our possessed glory ? Me- 
thinks they should value at a high rate the plenty of 
the gospel, and the peace and freedom which they 
now enjoy, who remember what they have cost. How 
much precious blood ! How many of the lives of 
God's worthies and witnesses ! then, when we are 
rejoicing in glory, how shall we think of the blood that 
redeemed our souls ! And how shall we look upon 
him, whose sufferings did put that joy into our heart ! 
How highly did David prize the love of Jonathan, 
who " stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, 
and gave it to him, and his garments, even to his 
sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle ;" and also 
saved him from his father's wrath ! How dear for 
ever will the love of Christ then be to us, who stripped 
himself, as it were, of his majesty and glory, and put 
our mean garment of flesh upon him, that he might 
put the robes of his own righteousness and glory upon 
us, and saved us, not from cruel injustice, but from his 
Father's deserved wrath ! Well, then, Christians, as 
you write on your goods the price they cost you, so 
do on your righteousness and on your glory. Write 
down the price, — " The precious blood of Christ." 

II. A second pearl in the saints' diadem is, that it 
is a free gift. These two attributes, purchased and 
free, are the two chains of gold, which make up the 
wreath for the heads of the pillars in the temple of 
God. It was dear to Christ, but free to us. When 
Christ was to buy, silver and gold were of no avail ; 
prayers and tears were of little worth ; nor any thing, 
in fact, short of his blood. But when we come to 
buy, the price is fallen to nothing. Our buying is but 



36 EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLY REST 

receiving. We hare it without money, and without 
price." If the Father freely give the Son, and the 
Son freely pay the debt ; and If both Father and Son do 
freely offer us the purchased blessing upon our cordial 
acceptance of it ; and if they also freely send the Spirit 
to enable us to accept of it, then what is there here 
that is not free? May not every stone that builds 
this temple have inscribed upon it, " Grace, grace." 
Oh, the everlasting admiration that will surprise the 
saints when they think of this freeness ! Indeed, if 
the proud-hearted, self-ignorant, self-admiring sinners 
should be thus advanced, who think none so fit for 
preferment as themselves, perhaps, instead of admir- 
ing free love, they would, with those unhappy angels, 
be discontented yet with their estate. But when the 
self-denying, self-accusing, humble soul, who thought 
tself utterly unworthy, finds itself wrapt up into 
heaven, and closed in the arms of Christ, even in a 
moment, do but think with yourselves what transport- 
ing, what astonishing admiration it must feel. He 
that durst not lift up his eyes to heaven, but stood afar 
off, smiting on his breast, and crying, " Lord, be mer- 
ciful to me a sinner," finds himself in the city of the 
living God. He who was wont to write his name in 
Bradford's style, " The unthankful, the hard-hearted, 
the unworthy sinner !" and who was wont to wonder 
that patience could bear with him so long, and justice 
sutler him to live, to find himself in the presence of 
the great King ! Ah, Christian, if worthiness were 
the condition of thy admittance into heaven, thou 
mightest sit down with John and weep, "because 
none in heaven or earth was found worthy." But 
blessed be God, "worthy is the Lamb that was slain," 
and through his title must we hold the inheritance. 

This is our exceeding consolation, that as we paid 
nothing for God's eternal love, and nothing for the 
Son of his love, and nothing for his Spirit, and our 
grace and faith, and nothing for our pardon, so we 
shall pay nothing for our eternal rest. Yet this is not 
all. If it were only for nothing, and without our 
merit, the wonder were great ; but it is, moreover, 



EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 37 

against our merit, and against our long endeavouring 
of our own ruin. How astonishing will it be to think 
of the immeasurable difference between our deserv- 
ings and our receivings, between the state we should 
have been in and the state we are in, to look down 
upon hell, and see the vast difference that grace hath 
made between us and the ungodly, to see the inherit- 
ance there, to which we were born, so different from 
that to which we are adopted ! Was not I born in 
sin, and an heir of wrath, as well as yonder suffering 
souls ? Did not I make light of Christ, and slight the 
offers of his grace a long time, as well as they ? Did 
not I misimprove my time, and forget my soul and 
eternity, as well as they ? Oh, who made me to differ ? 
Was my heart naturally more disposed for Christ than 
theirs? Or any whit better affected to the Spirit's 
persuasions ? Or would it ever have been willing, if 
he had not made me willing ? Had I not now been in 
these flames, ii I had had my own way, and been let 
alone to my own will ? Did not I resist as powerful 
means, and lose as fair advantages as they? And 
should not I have lingered in Sodom till the flames 
had seized on me, if God had not in mercy delivered 
me ? Oh, how free was all this love, and how free 
all this glory ! We know to whom the praise is due, 
and must be given for ever. And, indeed, to this very 
end it was, that infinite wisdom cast the whole design 
of man's salvation into the mould of purchase and 
freeness, that the love and joy of man might be per- 
fected, and the honour of grace most highly advanced ; 
that the thought of merit might neither cloud the one 
nor obstruct the other ; and that on these two hinges 
the gates of heaven might turn. So, then, let De- 
served be written on the door of hell, but on the gate 
of heaven the Free Gift of God. 

III. This rest is peculiar to the saints. It belongs 
to no other of all the sons of men ; not that it would 
have detracted from the greatness or freeness of the 
gift, if God had so pleased, that all the world should 
enjoy it. Distinguishing mercy affects more than gene- 
ral mercy. If the sun should shine on our habitations 

4 



3S EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

only, or the rain fall on our fields only, we should more 
feelingly acknowledge the mercy, than now, when we 
enjoy these blessings in common. When one is en- 
lightened, and another left in darkness; one reformed, 
and another enslaved by his lusts; when one sees 
other men's sins eternally punished, while his own are 
all pardoned; when one who is conscious of his own 
undeserving and ill deserving, sees his companion in 
sin perish, his neighbour, kinsman, father, mother, wife, 
child, for ever in hell, while he is exalted among the 
blessed in heaven ; when we see those that used to sit 
with us in the same seat, and eat with us at the same 
table, and join Avith us in the same duties, now lie 
tormented in those flames, while we are triumphing in 
Divine praises ; how sovereign, how overwhelming 
will the mercy appear ! 

IV. This rest is enjoyed in fellowship with the 
blessed saints and angels of God. Though it be pro- 
per to the saints only, yet is it common to all the saints. 
For what is it, but an association of blessed spirits in 
God ; the communion of saints completed ? Though, 
in a musical instrument, the strings receive not their 
sound and sweetness from each other, yet their con- 
currence causes that harmony which could not be pro- 
duced by one alone. For those that have prayed, and 
fasted, and wept, and watched, and waited together, 
now to rejoice and praise together, methinks should 
much advance their happiness. As we have been to- 
gether in labour, duty, and distress, so shall we be in 
the great recompense and deliverance ; as we have 
been scorned and despised, so shall we be crowned 
and honoured together; as we have been together in 
persecution and prison, so shall we be also in the 
palace of consolation. Now all our praises shall make 
up one melody, and all our churches one church, and 
all ourselves but one body; for we shall be one in 
Christ, even as he and the Father are one. It is true 
we must be very careful that we look not for that in 
the saints which is to be found only in Christ, and that 
we expect not too great a part of our comfort in the 
fruition of their society. We are prone enough to this 



EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 39 

kind of idolatry ; but yet he who commands us to love 
them now, will give us leave, in subordination to him- 
self, to love diem then, when he himself has made the m 
much more lovely. And if we may love them, we 
shall surely rejoice in them; for love and enjoyment 
cannot fail to accompany each other. If the forethought 
of sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all 
the prophets in the kingdom of God, is lawful joy, then 
how much more that real sight, and actual possession ? 
It cannot but be delightful to me to think of that day, 
when I shall join with Moses in his Song, with David 
in his Psalms, and with all the redeemed hi the song 
of the Lamb for ever j when I shall see Enoch walking 
with God, Noah enjoying the end of his singularity, 
Joseph of his integrity, Job of his patience, Hezekiah 
of his uprightness, and all the saints the end of their 
faith. Will it conduce nothing to the perfection of my 
comfort to live eternally with Peter, and John, and 
Paul, and a thousand others whose names are dear to 
me ? I know that Christ is all in all, and that it is the 
presence of God that makes heaven to be heaven. But 
yet it much sweetens the thoughts of that place to me, 
to remember that there is such a multitude of my 
most dear and precious friends in Christ, " with whom 
I took sweet counsel, and with whom I went up to 
the house of God;" in whose conversation was writ- 
ten the name of Christ ; whose sweet and sensible 
mention of his excellencies has often made my heart 
to burn within me. Nor is it only our old acquaintance, 
but all the saints of all ages, whose faces in the flesh 
we never saw, whom we shall there both know and 
comfortably enjoy. Yea, angels as well as saints, will 
be our blessed acquaintance and sweet associates. 
They who now are willingly ministering spirits for our 
good, will then be willingly our companions in joy for 
the perfecting of our felicity ; and they who had such 
joy in heaven at our conversion, will gladly rejoice 
with us at our glorification. This, I think, Christian, 
will be a more honourable assembly than you ever 
beheld here, and a more happy society than you were 
ever in before. " We shall come to mount Zion, and 



40 EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 
and to an innumerable company of angels: to the 
genera] assembly and church of the first born, which 
are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and 
to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus 
the Mediator of the new covenant." This, then, is 
one singular excellency of the heavenly rest, "that we 
shall be fellow citizens with the saints, and of the 
household of God." 

V. The joys of this rest are immediately from God. 
We shall see God face to face, and stand continually 
in his presence ; and consequently we shall derive our 
life and comfort immediately from him. Noav we 
have little or nothing at all immediately from him, but 
most is at the second or third hand, or from sources 
which are to us unknown, as from the earth, from man, 
from the sun and moon, from the influence of the 
planets, from the ministration of angels ; and doubtless, 
the farther the stream runs from the fountain, the more 
impure it is. The Christian even now knows by ex- 
perience, that his most immediate joys are his sweetest 
joys ; those which have least of man, and are most 
directly from the Spirit. That is one reason, as I con- 
ceive, why Christians who are much in secret prayer, 
and in meditation and contemplation, rather than they 
who are more in hearing, reading, and conference, are 
men of greatest life and joy ; because they are nearer 
the fountain, and have all more immediately from God 
himself. And that I conceive is the reason also, why 
we are more indisposed to these secret duties, and can 
more easily bring our hearts to hear, and read, and 
confer, than to secret prayer, self-examination, and 
meditation ; because in the former there is more of 
man, and in these we approach the Lord alone, and 
our natures draw hack from the most spiritual and 
fruitful duties. Not that we should therefore cast off 
the other, and neglect any ordinance of God. Let 
such as would do this beware, lest while they would 
be higher than Christians, they prove in the end lower 
than men. We are not yet come to the time and state 
where we shall have all from God's immediate hand. 



EXCELLENCIES OF TIIE HEAVENLY REST. 41 

As God hath made all creatures and instituted all 

ordinances for US, so will he continue our need of 
them all. We must be contented with love tokens 
from him, till we come to receive our all in him. 
There is joy in these indirect receivings; but the ful- 
ness of joy is in his immediate presence. Chris- 
tian, you will then know the difference between the 
creature and the Creator, and the content that each 
of them affords. We shall then have perpetual day 
without the sun; " For the city hath no need of the 
sun, neither of the moon to shine in it ; for the glory 
of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light 
thereof." We shall have rest without sleep, health 
without physic, strength without food : we shall have 
enlightened understandings without preaching, and 
communion with God without sacraments. Christ 
shall refresh us with the immediate fruition of heavenly 
joys, in the kingdom of his Father. To have neces- 
sities, but no supply, is the case of sinners in hell ; to 
have necessities supplied by means of creatures, is the 
case of us on earth ; to have necessities supplied im- 
mediately from God, is the case of the saints in 
heaven ; to have no necessity at all, is the preroga- 
tive of God himself. We shall then live in our 
Father's house, and shall receive our portion from his 
own hand ; then he shall fully unbosom to us his love, 
and God shall be all, and in all. 

VI. This rest will be seasonable. When we have 
had in this world a long night of darkness, will not 
the day breaking, and the rising of the Sun of right- 
eousness be seasonable ? When we have endured a 
hard winter in this cold climate, will not the reviving 
spring be seasonable ? When we have passed a long 
and tedious journey, and that through no small dan- 
gers, is not home seasonable ? When we have had a 
long and perilous war, and have lived in the midst of 
furious enemies, and have been forced to stand on a per- 
petual watch, and received from them many a wound, 
would not peace with victory be now seasonable ? 
Surely, he who looks upon the troubled face of the 
world, would conclude that rest should to all men be 

4* 



42 EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

seasonable. Some of us are languishing under con- 
tinual weakness, and groaning under grievous pains, 
crying in the morning, Would God it were evening; 
and in the evening. Would God it were morning; — 
weary of walking, weary of sitting, weary of stand- 
ing, weary of lying, weary of eating, of drinking, of 
speaking, weary of our very friends, weary of our- 
selves. 0, how oft hath this been my own case! 
And is rest not yet seasonable ? The saints in parti- 
cular, are very weary of that which the world cannot 
feel. Some are weary of a blind mind ; some of a 
hard, some of a proud, some of a passionate heart ; 
some are weary of their daily doubtings, and fears 
concerning their spiritual state ; some of the want of 
spiritual joys ; and some of the sense of God's wrath; 
and is not. rest now seasonable ? When a poor Chris- 
tian has desired, and prayed, and waited for deliver- 
ance many a year, is not rest then seasonable? When 
he is ready almost to give up, and says, I am afraid I 
shall not reach the end, and that my faith and patience 
will scarcely hold out, is not this a fit season for rest ? 
Will not Canaan be seasonable after so many years' 
travel, and that through a hazardous and grievous 
wilderness ? To the world, indeed, it is never in sea- 
son ; they are already at their own home, and have 
what they most desire ; but for the thirsty soul to 
enjoy the fountain, and the hungry to be filled with 
the bread of life, and the naked to be clothed from 
above, and the children to come to their father's 
house, — methinks this should seldom be unseasonable. 
We grudge that we find not a Canaan in the wilder- 
ness, or the "songs of Sion in a strange land," — that 
we find not our home by the way, and are not 
crowned in the midst of the fight, and receive not our 
inheritance before we are of age, and have not heaven 
before we leave the earth, — and would not all this be 
very unseasonable ? 

I confess in regard to the churches' service, the re- 
moving of the saints may sometimes appear to us 
unseasonable. God does this as a judgment, and the 
Church has ever prayed hard before it would part 



EXCELLENCIES OF THE IIEAVENLY REST. 43 

with them, and greatly laid their loss to heart Hence 
the great mournings at the departure of the saints, 

and the sad hearts that accompany them to their 
graves; but this is not especially for the departed, but 

for ourselves and our children. 

I conclude, then, that whatsoever it is to those that 
are let't behind, yet the saints' departure is to them- 
selves usually seasonable. I say usually, because I 
know that even a saint may have a death in some 
respect unseasonable, even though it translate him to 
Heaven. He may die in judgment, as good Josiah. 
He may die for his sin. He may die by the hand of 
public justice ; or die in a way of public scandal. He 
may die in a weak degree of grace, and consequently, 
have a less degree of glory. But yet it will ordinarily 
be found that the righteous " come to the grave as a 
shock of corn fully ripe ;" and you may often observe 
that in the ordinary course of God's dealings, he pur- 
posely makes his people's last hour in this life to be 
of all others, though to the flesh most bitter, yet to the 
spirit most sweet; and that they who feared death 
through the most of their lives, yet at last are more 
willing to die than ever. 

VII. This rest will be suitable. 

1. It is suitable to their natures. The new nature 
of saints suits their spirits to this rest ; and, indeed, 
their holiness is nothing else but a spark taken from 
this element, and, by the Spirit of Christ, kindled in 
their hearts, the flame whereof, as mindful of its own 
Divine Original, doth ever mount the soul aloft, and 
tend to the place whence it comes : it works toward 
its own centre, and makes us restless till there we rest. 
Gold and earthly glory, temporal crowns and king- 
doms, could not constitute a rest for saints. As they 
were not redeemed with so low a price, so neither are 
they endued with so low a nature. These may be a 
portion for lower spirits, and fit those whose nature 
they suit ; but they cannot fit a saint-like nature. As 
God will have from them a spiritual worship, suitable 
to his own spiritual being, so will he provide them 
with a spiritual nature. When carnal persons think 



44 EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

of heaven, their conceptions of it are also carnai ; and 
were it possible for such to obtain it, it would certainly 
be their trouble, not their rest, because it is so contrary 
to their nature. A heaven of good fellowship, and 
Wantonness, and voluptuousness, would better please 
them, as oeing more agreeable to their natures. But 
a heaven of the knowledge of God and Christ; a de- 
lightful complacency in mutual love, and everlasting 
rejoicing in the fruition of God; a perpetual singing 
of his high praises; this is a heaven for a saint, a 
spiritual rest, suitable to a spiritual nature. Then we 
shall live in our element. To be locked up in gold 
and in pearl, would be but a wealthy starving; to 
have our tables furnished with plate and ornaments, 
without meat, would be but to be richly famished; 
to be lilted up with human applause, is but a very 
airy felicity ; to be advanced to the sovereignty of all 
the earth, would be but to wear a crown of thorns; 
to be filled with the knowledge of arts and sciences, 
would be but to promote the conviction of our unhap- 
piness. But to have a nature like God, to be holy as 
he is holy, and to have God himself as our happiness, 
how well do these agree ! 

2. It is suitable to their desires. Whilst our desires 
remain corrupted and misguided, it is a far greater 
mercy to deny them, yea, to destroy them, than to 
satisfy them. But those which are spiritual are of 
God's own planting, and he will surely water them, 
and give the increase. Is it so great a work to raise 
them in us; and shall they, after all this, vanish and 
fail of being gratified? To send the word and Spirit, 
to provide mercies and judgments, to raise our desires 
from the creature to God, and then to suffer them to 
perish without success; — this were to multiply and 
augment our misery. He quickened us to hunger and 
thirst for righteousness, that he might make us happy 
in a full satisfaction. Christian, this is a rest after thy 
own heart It contains all that thy soul can wish; 
that which thou longest for, prayes! for, labourest for, — . 
there thou shah find it all. Thou hadst rather have 
God in Christ, than all the world. Why there thou 



EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 45 

shalt have Him. what wouldst thou not give for 
assurance of his love ! Why there thou shalt have 
assurance beyond suspicion. Nay, thy desires cannot 
now extend to the height of what thou shalt there 
obtain. Desire what thou canst, and ask what thou 
wilt as a Christian, and it shall be given thee, not only 
to the half, but to the enjoyment of the whole of the 
kingdom. This is a life of desire and prayer ; but 
that is a life of fruition and enjoyment. 

3. It is suitable to their necessities. It contains 
whatsoever they truly wanted ; not supplying them 
with the gross created comforts, which now they are 
forced to make use of, which, like Saul's armour on 
David, are more a burden than a benefit. It was 
Christ, and perfect holiness, which they most needed, 
and with these they shall be abundantly supplied. 
Their other necessities are far better removed, than 
supplied in the present carnal way. 

VIII. This rest will be perfect. We shall then 
have joy without sorrow, and rest without weariness. 
As there will be no mixture of corruption with our 
graces, so will there be no mixture of suffering with 
our happiness. There will be none of those waves 
in that harbour, which now so toss us up and down 
on the wide ocean. We are now at the gates of hea- 
ven, and presently almost as low as hell. We won- 
der at the changes of Providence toward us, being 
scarcely two days together in the same condition. 
To-day we are well, to-morrow sick; to-day in esteem, 
to-morrow in disgrace ; to-day in gladness, to-morrow 
in sadness ; to-day we have friends, to-morrow only 
enemies. Nay, we have wine and vinegar in the 
same cup ; our pleasantest food has a taste of gall. If 
revelations should raise us to the third heaven, the 
messenger of Satan is presently sent to buffet us, and 
the thorn in the flesh will pierce our hearts. But 
there is nothing of this inconsistency in heaven. If 
perfect love cast out fear, then perfect joy must needs 
cast out sorrow ; and perfect happiness exclude all 
misery. There will be a universal perfecting of all 



46 EXCELLENCIES OF THE IIEAVENLY REST. 

our parts and powers, and a universal removal of all 
our evils. 

1. We shall rest from ignorance. Thy understand- 
ing, Christian, shall (never more be troubled with 
darkness; ignorance and error are inconsistent with 
this linht. Now thou walkest like a man in the twi- 
light, ever afraid of being out of the way; but then 
all this darkness will be dispelled. We shall know 
which was the right side, and which the wrong ; which 
was truth, and which was error. ! what would we 
not give to know clearly all the profound mysteries in 
the doctrine of the decrees, of redemption, of justifica- 
tion, of the nature of grace, of the divine attributes! 
What would we not give to see all dark passages of 
Scripture made plain, and all seeming contradictions 
reconciled ! Why, when glory shall have removed 
the veil from our eyes, all these will be known 
in a moment. The poorest Christian will pre- 
sently there be a more perfect divine than the pro- 
foundest theologian is here. that happy day, 
when error shall vanish away for ever ; when our 
understandings shall receive their light from the face 
of God, as the full moon from the sun, when there 
is no earth to interpose between them ! 

2. We shall rest from sin. " There shall in nowise 
enter any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever 
worketh abomination, or maketh a lie. He who has 
undertaken to present the church to his Father, "not 
having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy, 
and without blemish," will now most certainly ac- 
complish what he has undertaken. He that has pre- 
pared for sin the torments of hell, will never admit it 
into the blessedness of heaven. If, therefore, Chris- 
tian, thou be once in heaven, thou shalt sin no more. 
Is not this glad news to thex3, who hast prayed and 
watched, and laboured against it so long? I know, 
if it were offered to thy choice, thou wouldst rather 
choose to be freed from sin, than to be made heir of 
all the world. Why, wait till then, and thou shalt 
have thy desire. That hard heart, those vile thoughts, 
which lie down and rise up with thee, which accom- 



EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 47 

fmny thee to every duty, which thou canst no more 
eav'e behind thee, than leave thyself behind thee, 
shall now be left behind for ever. They may 
accompany thee to death but they shall not pro- 
ceed a step further. We shall no more be oppressed 
With the power of our corruptions, nor vexed with 
their presence. No pride, passion, slothfulness, sense- 
lessness, shall enter with us ; no strangeness to God, 
and the things of God ; no coldness of affections ; no 
imperfection in our love ; no uneven walking ; no 
grieving of the Spirit ; no scandalous action or unholy 
conversation. We shall rest from all these for ever. 

3. We shall rest from suffering. When the cause 
is gone, the effect ceases. Our sufferings were but 
the consequences of our sinning ; and here they both 
shall cease together. 

(1.) We shall rest from all our perplexing doubts 
and fears of God's love. We shall hear that kind of 
language no more, — " What shall I do to know my 
state ? How shall I know that God is my father 
that my heart is upright, that my conversion is genuine, 
that my faith is sincere ? Oh ! I fear that my sins 
are yet unpardoned, that my religion is but hypo- 
crisy, and that God will at last reject me from his 
presence. How can he accept so vile a wretch, so 
hard-hearted a sinner, such an undervaluer of Christ 
as I am ?" All this kind of language shall there be 
turned into the praises of him who has forgiven, who 
has converted, who has accepted, yea, who has glori- 
fied a wretch so unworthy. It will then be as im- 
possible for thee to doubt and fear, as it is now to 
doubt of the food which you are eating, or to fear it 
is night, when you see the sun shining. 

(2.) We shall rest from all sense of God's displea- 
sure, which was here our greatest torment. Surely 
hell shall not be mixed with heaven. Hell is the 
place for the glorifying of his justice and prepared 
wrath ; but heaven, of his love and mercy. Job will 
not then use his own language, " Thou writest bitter 
things against me, and takest me for thine enemy, and 
settest me up as a mark to shoot at, so that I am a 



48 EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

burden to myself!" David will not then complain 
"That the arrows of the Almighty stick fast in him; 
and thai his hand presseth him sore; that he remem- 
bers God and is troubled, that his wrath lieth hard 
upon him, and that he alllicteth him with all his 
waves." Here the Christian is oft complaining: " 0, 
if it were the wrath of man, I could bear it ! But the 
wrath of the Almighty, who can bear? 0, that all 
the world were mine enemies, if I were but assured 
that he was my friend !" But, that blessed day ! 
when all sense of God's displeasure shall be swal- 
lowed up in the ocean of love. 

(3.) We shall rest from all the temptations of Satan. 
What a grief it is to a Christian, even though he yield 
not to the temptation, that he should be solicited to 
deny his Lord ; that he can set about nothing that is 
good, but Satan must be dissuading him from it, dis- 
tracting him in it, or discouraging him after it ! What 
a torment is it, to have such horrid motions made to 
his soul, such blasphemous ideas presented to his 
mind ; sometimes cruel thoughts of God, sometimes 
undervaluing thoughts of Christ, sometimes unbe- 
lieving thoughts of Scripture, sometimes injurious 
thoughts of Providence. What a distress is it, to be 
tempted to turn to present things, to play with the 
baits of sin, to venture on the delights of flesh, and 
even to atheism itself; especially, when we know the 
treachery of our own hearts, that they are as tinder 
or gunpowder, ready to take fire as soon as one of 
these sparks shall fall upon them. But here is our 
comfort. When the day of our deliverance comes, we 
shall fully rest from these temptations. Satan shall 
then be bound ; the time of his temptations shall then 
be over ; he himself shall be led captive in chains. 
Now we walk among his snares, and are in danger of 
being circumvented with his wiles: but then we shall 
be beyond his stratagems, and out of the reach of his 
enticing charms. We shall no more need to pray, 
"Lead us not into temptation;" nor to "watch that 
we enter not into temptation;" but now they who 
" continued with Christ in his temptations shall by him 



EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 49 

be appointed to a kingdom, even as his Father ap- 
pointed to him, that they may eat and drink at his 
table in his kingdom." " Blessed are they that endure 
temptation ; for when they are tried, they shall receive 
the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to 
them that love him." 

(4.) We shall rest from all the temptations of the 
World and the flesh. Every sense is a snare; every 
member a snare ; every creature a snare ; every mercy 
a snare ; every duty a snare to us. We can scarcely 
open our eyes but we are in danger. If we behold 
our superiors, we are in danger of envy. If we see 
sumptuous buildings, pleasant habitations, honours 
and riches, we are in danger of covetousness. If we 
look on the rags and beggary of others, we are in dan- 
ger of self-applauding thoughts and unmercifulness. 
If we see beauty, it is a bait to lust ; if deformity, it is 
apt to excite loathing and disdain. We can scarcely 
hear a word spoken, but it contains to us matter of 
temptation. How soon do slanderous reports, vain 
jests, wanton speeches, creep into the heart ! How 
strong and prevalent a temptation is our appetite ; 
and how constant and strong a watch does it require ! 
Have we comeliness and beauty ? What fuel for 
pride ! Are we deformed ? What an occasion of 
repining ! Have we strength of reason and gifts of 
learning ? ! how hard is it not to be pulled up, to 
hunt after applause, to despise our brethren, to dislike 
the simplicity that is in Christ, to affect a pompous, 
fleshly service of God, and to exalt reason above faith ! 
Are we unlearned ? How apt are we to despise what 
we have not, to undervalue what we know not, to err 
with confidence, because of our ignorance ! Are we 
men of eminence and authority ? How strong is our 
temptation to stand upon our honour and privileges, 
to forget ourselves, our poor brethren, and the public 
good ! How hard to devote our power to the glory 
of him from whom we received it ! How prone to 
make our will our law, and to cut out all the enjoy- 
ments of others, both civil and religious, by the rules 
and model of our own interest and policy ! Are we 

5 



. r )0 KCEIXBHCnH OF THE HEAVENLY KTJST. 

inferiors and subject to others? ITow prone to einry 
their pre-eminence, to bring all their actions to the bar 
of our incompetent judgment, to censure and slander 
them, and murmur at their proceedings ! Are we rich, 
and are \\ r e not too much exalted? Are we poor, and 
are we not discontented ? If we be sick, how impa- 
tient ! If in health, how few and stupid are our thoughts 
of eternity ! If death be near, we are distracted with 
fears of it ! If we think it far off, how careless is our 
preparation for it! Do we set about duty? Why, 
there are snares too. Either we are stupid and indo- 
lent ; or we are formal in the performance of it ; or we 
rest in it, and turn from Christ, who should be at once 
the spring and the object of it. See what a sad case 
we poor Christians are in, and especially they that 
discern not their danger; it is almost impossible they 
should escape. It was not without reason that our 
Lord declared, " What I say unto you, I say unto all, 
Watch." 

But for ever blessed be that Omnipotent love, which 
saves us out of all these snares, and makes our straits 
but the manifestations of the glory of his saving grace ! 
In heaven the danger and trouble will all be over. 
As Satan has no entrance there, so neither shall any 
thing enter to serve his malice, but all things shall there 
with us conspire to raise the praises of our great De- 
liverer. Then shall we sing, " Blessed be the Lord 
who hath not given our souls for a prey. Our soul is 
escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers : the 
snare is broken, and we are escaped." 

(5.) We shall rest from all the abuses and persecu- 
tions of the world. This is the time for crowning 
with thorns : that is the time for crowning with glory. 
Now the law is, " That whosoever will live godly in 
Christ Jesus shall sutler persecution ;" then they that 
have " suffered with him, shall be glorified" with him. 
Now we must be hated of all men for Christ's sake ; 
then he will be "admired in all them that believe/' 
Now, because we "are not of the world, but Christ 
hath chosen us out of the world, therefore doth the 
world hate us ;" then, because we are not of the world, 



EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 51 

but are taken out of it, therefore will the world honour 
us. We arc here ** made a spectacle to the world, and 

to angels, and to men; we are reckoned as the filth of 
tin 1 world, and as the offscouring of all things/' Now 
you can attempt no work for God without opposition, 
and find you must lose either the love of the world 
and your outward comforts, or else the love of God 
and your eternal salvation; but in heaven you shall 
have none to discourage you in the service of God, 
nor any company but will further your work, and 
gladly join heart and voice with you in your everlast- 
ing joys and praises. 

((>.) We shall rest from all our sad divisions and 
unchristian quarrels with one another. In heaven, 
there is no contention, because there is none of that 
pride, ignorance, and other corruption, which prevail 
so much on earth. There, every man is not conceited 
of his own understanding, but all are admiring the 
divine perfection, and in love with God and one an- 
other. " By this shall all men know that ye are my 
disciples, if ye have love one to another." Is not 
this his last great legacy, " Peace I leave with you, 
my peace I give unto you ?" Mark the expression of 
that command, " If it be possible, as much as in you 
feth, live peaceably with all men :" " Follow peace 
with all men, and holiness, without which no man 
shall see the Lord." Such peace, such fellowship 
shall be in heaven. 

(7.) We shall rest from all our participation in the 
sutferings of our brethren. Alas ! if we had nothing 
in ourselves to trouble us, yet what heart could lay 
aside sorrows, that lives in the sound of the church's 
sufferings. Unless we are turned into steel or stone, 
and have lost both Christian and human affection, 
there needs no more than the miseries of our brethren 
to fill our hearts with successions of sorrows, and 
make our lives a continued lamentation. The church 
on earth is a mere hospital. Which ever way we go, 
we hear complaining ; and into what corner soever 
we cast our eyes, we behold objects of grief and pity; 
some groaning under a dark understanding, some un- 



52 EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

der a senseless heart; some languishing under unfruit- 
ful weakness, some bleeding for miscarriages and wil- 
fulness, and some in such a lethargy that they are 
past complaining. 

As now our friends' distresses arc our distresses, so 
then our friends' deliverance will be part of our own 
deliverance. How much more joyous is it now to 
join with them in their days of thanksgiving and 
gladness, than in their days of humiliation, when they 
sit in sackcloth and ashes ! How much more joyous 
will it be, then to join with them in their perpetual 
praises and triumphs, than to hear them now bewail- 
ing their wretchedness, their want of light, of life, of 
joy, of assurance of grace, of Christ, of all things ! 

But a far greater grief it is to our spirits, to see the 
spiritual miseries of our brethren, — to see such a one 
with whom we took sweet counsel, and who zealously 
joined with us in God's worship, now fallen off to sen- 
suality, turned drunkard, worldling, or a persecutor of 
the saints ; to see our dearest and most intimate friends, 
turned aside from the truth of Christ, and confident in 
the grossest errors ; to see many who are connected 
with us by the nearest ties, neglecting Christ, and 
their souls, while nothing will awaken them out of 
their sinful security ; to look an ungodly father or 
mother, brother or sister in the face ; to look on a car- 
nal wife, or husband, or child, or friend, and to think 
how certainly they will be in hell for ever, if they die 
in their present unregenerate state. Blessed be that 
approaching day, when our eyes shall no more behold 
such sights, nor our ears hear any more such tidings. 
To think of the gospel departing, of our sun setting at 
noon-day, of poor souls left willingly dark and desti- 
tute, and with great pains extinguishing the light that 
should guide them to salvation, — what sad thoughts 
are these! Who could then take the harp in hand, 
or sing the pleasant songs of Sion? But blessed be 
the Lord who has frustrated our fears, and who will 
hasten that happy day, when Zion shall be exalted 
above the mountains, and her gates shall not be shut 
day nor night; when u the sons of them that aillicted 



cf.u,i:n< ti> of THE BEATENLY ki:st. 53 

her, shall conic bending unto her, and all they that 
despised ber, shall how themselves at the solos of he* 
feet : and they shall call her, The Cay of the Lord, the 
Xion of the Holy One oi Israel" 

(8.) We shall resl from all our own personal suffer- 
ings. Though tins may seem a small tiling to those 
thai liVe in continual ease, and abound in all kind of 
sperity; yet methinks, to the daily afflicted soul, it 
should make the fore-thoughts of heaven delightful. 
As all our senses are the inlets of sin, so they are be- 
come the inlets of sorrow. Fears devour us, and 
darken our delights as the frosts nip the tender buds. 
Cares consume us, and feed upon our spirits, as the 
scorching sun withers the delicate flowers. the 
multitude of tender membranes, nerves, muscles, veins, 
arteries, and every one a fit subject for pain, and fit to 
communicate that pain to the whole. 

But the blessed tranquillity of that region, where 
there is nothing but sweet, continued peace ! No suc- 
cession of joy there, because no intermission. Our 
lives will be but one joy, as our time will be changed 
into one eternity. healthful country, where none 
are sick ! fortunate land, where all are kings ! O 
place most holy, where all are priests ! How free a 
state, where none are servants, save to their supreme 
Monarch ! No more shall the poor man be tired with 
his incessant labours. No hunger, or thirst, no cold, 
or nakedness : no pinching frosts, no scorching heats. 
No more shall our faces be pale or sad ; our groans 
and sighs will be done away ; and God will wipe 
away all tears from our eyes. No more parting 
asunder of friends, nor voice of lamentation heard in 
our dwellings. No more breaches, nor disproportion 
in our friendship, nor any trouble accompanying our 
relations in life ; as of parents over their children, or 
magistrates over their subjects, or ministers over their 
people. No more sadness for our study lost, our 
preaching lost, our entreaties lost, the offer of Christ's 
blood lost, our dear people's souls lost. Oh ! what 
room can there be for any evil, where the whole is 
perfectly filled with God? Then shall "the ransomed 



5\ EXCELLENCIES OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

of the Lord return and come to Sion with songs, and 
everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain 
joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing .shall flee 
away." 

(9.) We shall rest from all the labour and pain of 
duty. The conscientious magistrate now cries out, O 
the burden that lieth upon me ! The conscientious 
parent, that knows the preciousness of his children's 
souls, and the constant pains required to their godly 
education, cries out, the burden! The conscien- 
tious minister, when he reads his charge, 2 Timothy 
iv. I, and views his pattern, Acts xx. 18 — 31, — when 
he hath tried a while what it is to study, and pray, 
and preach, according to the weight and excellency of 

the work, to go from house to house, and from neigh- 
hour to neighbour, and to beseech them night and 
day with tear-, and, alter all, to he hated and perse- 
cuted lor so doing, no wonder if he cry out, the 
burden! and ho ready to relinquish the work like 
Jonah, and with Jeremiah to say, "I will not make 
mention of him, nor speak any more in his name; 
for his word is made a reproach to me, and a derision 
daily." How long may we study and labour before 
one soul is brought over to Christ ; and when it is 
done, how often do the snares of error again entangle 
them! J low many receive the doctrine of delusion, 
before they have time to he built up in the truth! 
The first new strange apparition of light so amazes 
them, that they think they are in the third heaven, 
when they are hut newly passed from the suburbs of 
hell ; and they are presently as confident as if they 
knew ;ill things, when they have not halt" light enough 
to acquaint them with their own ignorance; but, after 
ten or twenty years' study, they usually become of the 
same judgment as those whom they despised. Seldom 
does a minister live to see the ripeness of his people ; 
hut one BOWS and plants, another waters, and a third 
reaps and receives the increase. In short, every rela- 
tion, state, age, has a variety of duty. Hence every 
conscientious Christian cries out, «0 the burden! or, 
O my weakness, that makes it so burdensome !" But 



i.\i ] i.i ! \< n> Of THE HEAVENLY REST. 55 

in heaven we shall no more feel duty to be a burden, 
We shall not, indeed, be relieved from the service of 
God; but we shall have strength equal to it Here, 
even u the youths faint and arc weary, and the young 
men utterly fall:" but there "they that wan on the 
Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall mount up 
with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be 
weary; they shall walk' and not faint.™ 

IX. The last jewel in our crown is, that it IS an 
everlasting rest. This crowns the whole; without this, 
all else were comparatively little or nothing. The 
very thought of leaving it would embitter all our joys; 
and it would pierce us the more, because of the sin- 
gular excellencies which we must forsake. It would 
be a hell in heaven to think of losing it; as it would 
be a kind of heaven in hell, had the damned but 
the hope of at last escaping. How can we take 
delight in any thing, when we remember how short 
that delight will be ? How can it but spoil our plea- 
sure, when we see it dying in our hands? How could 
I be happy, if I had not my eye fixed upon eternity ? 
When methinks I foresee my dying hour, my friends 
waiting for my last gasp, and closing my eyes, saying, 
He is dead ; — when methinks I see my coffin made, 
my grave prepared, and my friends there leaving me 
in the dust, — what is there on earth that can afford 
me pleasure ? It utterly disgraces the greatest glory 
in my eyes, if you can but truly call it mortal. I can 
value nothing that shall have an end, except as it leads 
to that which hath no end ; or as it comes from that 
love which hath neither beginning nor end. happy 
souls in hell, should you but escape, miserable saints 
in heaven, should you be dispossessed after millions 
of ages ! This word Everlasting, contains the accom- 
plished perfection of their torment, and of our glory. 
that the careless sinner would but seriously study 
this word Everlasting ! Methinks it would startle him 
out of his deepest sleep. that the gracious soul 
would believingly study this word Everlasting ! Me- 
thinks it would revive him in the deepest agony. And 
must I, Lord, thus live forever ? Then will I also love 



56 THE CERTAINTY OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

forever. Must my joys be immortal? And dial! 
not my thanks be also immortal? Surely, if 1 shall 
never lose my glory, I will never cease thy praise. 
u Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the 
only wise God. be honour and glory, forever and ever. 
Allien I" 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE CERTAINTY OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

Having thus described the Heavenly Rest, we shall 
now proceed to the confirmation of this truth, and 
though this may seem needless, in regard of its own 
clearness and certainty, yet in regard of our distance 
and infidelity, there is nothing more necessary. — 
Though I have all along sufficiently confirmed what 
I have said by the testimony of Scripture, yet I will 
here briefly state a few distinct proofs of this im- 
portant truth. 

I. This rest is fore-ordained for the saints, and the 
snints are also fore-ordained for it. " Now, 75 says the 
apostle, "they desire a better country, that is, an 
heavenly : wherefore God is not ashamed to be called 
their God, for he hath prepared for them a city.' 7 The 
saints themselves are called, "vessels of mercy, before 
prepared unto glory. 77 In Christ they have obtained 
the inheritance, "being predestinated according to the 
purpose of him who worketh all things after tiie 
counsel of his own will. 77 And we are elsewhere 
told, that "whom he did predestinate, them he also 
glorified. 77 "He hath from the beginning chosen 
them to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, 
and belief of the truth. 77 

Now, though the intentions of the weak and un- 
wise may he frustrated, yet k > the thoughts of the 
Lord shall surely come to pass, and as he hath pur- 
posed, it shall stand. 77 « The counsel of the Lord 



THE CERTAINTY OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 57 

standeth forever, and the thoughts of his heart to all 
generations." Who then can bereave us of that rest 
which God hath designed for us by his eternal 
purpose ? 

li. This rest is purchased, as well as purposed, for 
us. It was for this end that God gave his Son. and 
.the Son gave his life. "As Moses lifted up the ser- 
pent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man 
be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him might 
not perish, but have everlasting life." Accordingly, 
the apostle says, it is by the " blood of Jesus that we 
enter into the holiest of all;" and in the book of Reve- 
lation, the saints are represented as ascribing the glory 
of their salvation entirely to the death of Christ; 
" Thou art worthy," they sing, " for thou wast slain, 
and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of 
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ; 
and hast made vis unto our God kings and priests." 
Indeed, either Christ must lose his blood and suffer- 
ings, and never " see of the travail of his soul," but 
all his pains and expectation be forever frustrated, or 
else " there remaineth a rest to the people of God." 

III. This rest is promised to us. Christ himself 
prays, and what he asks will be granted, " Father, I 
will that they also whom thou hast given me, may be 
with me, that they may behold my glory, which thou 
hast given me ; for thou lovedst me before the foun- 
dation of the world." On this subject he tells his dis- 
ciples to dismiss all their fears, " Fear not, little flock, 
it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the king- 
dom," i. e. fear not all your enemies' rage ; fear not 
all your own unworthiness ; doubt not of the cer- 
tainty of the gift ; for it is grounded upon the good 
pleasure of your Father. And again he says, " I 
appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath ap- 
pointed unto me a kingdom ; that ye may eat and 
drink at my table in my kingdom." In like mannei 
the apostle James says, " Hearken, my beloved 
brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, 
rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom ?" 

IV. All the means of grace, all the workings ot the 



58 THE CERTAINTY OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

Spirit upon the soul, all the gracious exercises of the 
saints, are bo many proofs, that -there remaineth a 
rest to the people of God," All these means and 

motions imply some end to which they tend, and no 
lower end than this rest can be imagined. God would 
never have commanded his people to repent and be- 
lieve, Jo last and pray, to knock and seek, to read and 
study, to conkr and meditate, to strive and labour, to 
run and fight, and all this to no purpose. Nor would 
the Spirit of God impel them to this, and create in them 
a supernatural power, and enable them and excite them 
to a constant performance, were it not for this end to 
which it leads. Nor could the saints reasonably at- 
tempt such employments, nor undergo such heavy 
sufferings, were it not for this desirable end. 

V. The saints have even on earth the beginnings, 
foretastes, earnests, and seals of this rest; and may 
not all this assure them of the full possession in hea- 
ven ? The kingdom of heaven is within them. They 
have a beginning of that knowledge which Christ has 
said is eternal life. And do you think that God will 
give the beginning, where he never intends to give the 
end ? Nay, God often gives his people such foresights 
and foretastes of this rest, that their spirits are even 
transported with it, and they could heartily wish they 
might be present there. Paul was taken up into the 
third heaven, and saw and heard things that were un- 
utterable. And I doubt not but some poor Christians 
among us, who have little to boast of outward appear- 
ances, have often these foretastes in their souls. And 
do you think that God will tantalize his people ? Will 
he give them the first fruits, and not the harvest? Will 
he show them glory to set them longing for it. and 
then deny them the actual fruition ? Will he lift them 
up so near this rest, and irive them such rejoicings in 
the prospect of it, and yet never bestow it on them? 
Nay, doth he give them " the earnest of the inherit- 
ance/ 5 and "seal them with the holy Spirit of pro- 
pnise," and yet will he deny them the full possession? 
These absurdities may no( he charged on an ordinary 
man, much less on the faithful and righteous God. 



THE TTETRS OF THE HEAVENLY REST. . r » ( l 

Lastly, The Scripture speaks of some who have 
already entered into iliis rest, as Enoch, Abraham, La* 
Barus, the thief who was crucified with Christ, and 
many others. Now, if there be a rest for these, surely 

there must be a rest for all believers. 

JJut it is vain to heap up Scripture proofs, seeing it 
is the very end of the Scripture, to be a guide to us 
to this blessed state ; to discover it to us, persuade us 
to seek' it, and to point out the hindrances that would 
keep lis from it. There is, in fact, no one that doubts 
the certainty of this promised glory, but those who 
doubt the truth of the Scripture, or else know not 
what it contains. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE PERSONS FOR WHOM THE HEAVENLY REST 
REMAINETH. 

Having thus considered some of the evidences of this 
great truth, I shall now proceed to show you who 
the people of God are, for whom this blessed rest 
remaineth. 

They are then only a part of lost mankind, whom 
God hath from eternity predestinated to this rest, for 
the glory of his mercy ; whom Christ hath redeemed 
with an absolute intent of saving ; whom the Holy 
Spirit renews by the power of his grace, and makes 
in some sort like himself, stamping his image on them, 
and making them holy as he is holy, and whom he 
will at length crown with glory, honour, and immor- 
tality in heaven. 

I. They are chosen by God. 

As it is no more excellent a creature than man that 
is to have this possession, so is it that man who once 
was lost. The heirs of this kingdom were taken, 
even from the tree of execution, and rescued by the 



60 THE HEIRS OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

Strong hand of love from the power of the prince of 
darkness, who having caughl them in his snares, led 
them captive at his will. They were once within a 
step of hell, who are now to be advanced as high as 
heaven* 

That they are hut a part of this lost race is appa- 
rent both from Scripture and experience. They are 
" a little flock to whom it is the Father's good plea- 
sure to give the kingdom." Fewer they are than 
the world imagines ; yet not so few as some drooping 
spirits suppose, who are fearful that God will cast 
off them, who would not reject him for all the world ; 
and are suspicious that God is unwilling to be their 
God, when yet they know themselves willing to be 
his people. 

II. They are redeemed by Christ. 

God has given all things to his Son, but not as he 
has given his chosen to him. The difference is clearly 
expressed by the apostle : " He hath put all things 
under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things 
to his Church." And though Christ is in some sense 
"a ransom for all," yet not in that special manner as 
for his people. 

III. They are regenerated by the Holy Spirit. 
Seeing we are born God ? s enemies, we must be new 

born his sons, or else remain his enemies still. ! 
that the unregenerated world knew and believed this, 
in whose ears the new birth sounds as a paradox ; 
who, because they never felt any supernatural work 
upon themselves, believe that there is no such thing, 
but that it is the conceit and fantasy of idle brains ; 
who make the terms regeneration, sanctification, holi- 
ness, matter of reproach and scorn, though they are 
the words of the Spirit of God; and Christ himself 
has said, " Except a man be born again, he cannot see 
the kingdom of God." The greatest reformation of 
life that can be attained to, without this new life 
wrought in the soul, may procure their further delu- 
sion, but never their salvation. 

Let us now see by what acts this new life discovers 
itself. Here there are three things which demand our 



THE HEIRS OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 61 

attention : conviction, change of will, perseverance 
ill grace. 

1. Conviction. This comprehends knowledge and 
lit. It comprehends the knowledge of what the 
Scripture speaks against sin and sinners, and that the 
Scripture which so speaks is the word of God. It 
comprehends a sincere assent to the verity of Scrip- 
ture, and some knowledge of ourselves, particularly 
of our guilt, and its consequences. 

This conviction comprehends not only knowledge 
and assent, but sensibility. God works on the heart 
as well as on the head. Both were corrupted, and 
out of order; the principle of new life, therefore, 
quickens both. The knowledge which is merely the- 
oretical, never suitably moves the affections. The 
doctrines of religion produce in the understanding of 
an unrenewed soul, but a superficial apprehension, 
and therefore, can produce in the heart but small sen- 
sibility. As hypocrites may know many things, but 
nothing with the clear apprehensions of an experienced 
man ; so may they be slightly affected. To view in 
the map of the Gospel, the precious things of Christ, 
and his kingdom, may slightly affect us ; but to thirst 
for, and drink of the living waters, and to be heir of 
that kingdom, must needs work another kind of sensi- 
bility. The great things of sin, of grace, and Christ, 
and eternity, which are of weight one would think 
to move a rock, shake not the heart of the carnal pro- 
fessor. It is true, some soft and passionate natures 
may have tears at command, when one that is truly 
gracious hath none ; yet is this Christian with dry 
eyes, more solidly apprehensive and more deeply 
affected, than the other is in the midst of his tears ; 
and the weeping hypocrite will be drawn to his sin 
again by a trifle, which the groaning Christian would 
not be hired to commit, by crowns and kingdoms. 

The following are some of the things of which sin- 
ners are convinced by the Spirit of God. 

(1.) They are convinced of the evil of sin. The 
sinner is made to know and feel that sin, which was 
his delight, is, indeed, a loathsome thing; a breach 

6 



62 THE HEIRS OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

of the righteous law of the most high God, dishonour- 
able to him, and destructive to the soul. He was 
wont to marvel, what made men raise such an outcry 
against sin, or what harm it was for a man to take a 
little forbidden pleasure. He saw no such heinous- 
ness in it, that Christ must needs die for it, and most 
of the world be eternally tormented in hell on account 
of it. He thought this was somewhat hard measure, 
and greater punishment than could possibly be de- 
served by a little fleshly liberty or worldly delight ; 
by the neglect of Christ, his word, or worship ; by a 
wanton thought, a vain word, a dull duty, or a cold 
affection ; but now his views are changed. God hath 
opened his eyes to see the inexpressible vileness of 
sin, which satisfies him of the reasonableness of 
all this. 

(2.) They are convinced of their misery. He who 
before read the threatenings of God's law, as men do 
the stories of foreign wars, or as they behold the 
wounds and the blood in a picture or piece of tapestry 
which never makes him smart or fear, now finds it is 
his own story, and he perceives it is his own doom, 
as if he found his name written in the curse, or heard 
the law say, as Nathan, " Thou art the man." The 
wrath of God seemed to him but as a storm to a man 
in a dry house, or as the pains of the sick to the 
healthy bystander ; but now he finds the disease is 
his own, and feels the smart of the wounds in his own 
soul. In a word, he finds himself a condemned man, 
that he is dead and damned in point of law, and that 
nothing was wanting but the mere execution to make 
him absolutely and irrecoverably miserable. 

Whether you call this a work of the law or gospel, 
yet sure am I it is a work of the Spirit wrought, in 
some measure, in all the regenerate. And though 
some do judge it unnecessary bondage, yet it is be- 
yond my conception, how he should come to Christ 
for pardon that did not first find himself guilty and 
condemned; or for life, that never felt himself "dead. 
« They that be whole need not a physician, but they 
that are sick." Yet I deny not that some gracious 



THE HEIRS OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 63 

souls may scarcely perceive, and others scarcely re- 
member this work of humiliation. The discovery of 
the remedy as soon as the misery, must needs prevent 
real part of the trouble, and make the distinct 
effect on the soul to be with much more difficulty dis- 
cerned. Nay, the actings of the soul are so quick, 
and often so confused, that the distinct order of these 
workings may not be apprehended or remembered at 
all. And, perhaps, the joyful apprehensions of mercy 
may make the sense of misery the sooner forgotten. 

(3.) They are convinced of the vanity and insuffi- 
ciency of the creature. Every man is naturally an 
idolator. Our hearts turned from God in our first 
fall, and ever since, the creature has been our god. 
When God should guide us, we guide ourselves. 
When he should be our sovereign, we rule ourselves. 
The laws which he gives us, we would correct ; and 
if we had the making of them, we would have made 
them otherwise. When we should depend on him 
for our daily mercies, we would rather keep our stock 
ourselves, and have our portion in our own hands. 
When we should stand at his disposal, we would be 
at our own. When we should submit to his provi- 
dence, we usually quarrel with it, as if we knew bet- 
ter what is good for us than he, and how to dispose 
of all things more wisely. 

Thus we are naturally our own idols. But down 
falls this Dagon, when God once renews the soul. It 
is the great business of that great work to bring the 
heart back to God himself. He convinces the sinner, 
that the creature of himself can neither be his God, 
to make him happy, nor yet his Christ, to recover him 
from his misery, and restore him to God, who is his 
happiness. This God does not only by his word, but 
by his providence also ; because words seem but wind, 
and will hardly take off the raging senses. He there- 
fore makes his rod to speak, and continue speaking, 
till the sinner hear and learn by it this great lesson. 
This is the great reason why afflictions so ordinarily 
concur in the work of conversion. When a sinner 
made honour his god, and God shall cast him into 



64 THE HEIRS OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

lowest disgrace, or bring him that idolized his riches, 
into a condition wherein they cannot help him — what 
a powerful help is here to this conviction ! When a 
man thai made pleasure his god, — whether ease, or 
sports, or mirth, or company, or gluttony, or drunken- 
ness, or clothing, or buildings, or whatsoever a ranging 
eye, a curious ear, a raging appetite, or a lustful heart 
could desire, and God shall take these from him, or 
turn them all into gall and wormwood, — what a help is 
here to this conviction ! When God shall cast a man 
into a languishing sickness, and inflict wounds and 
anguish on his heart, and stir up against him his own 
conscience ; and then, as it were, take him by the hand, 
and lead him to credit, to riches, to pleasure, to com- 
pany, to sports, or whatsoever was dearest to him, 
and say, " Now try if these can help thee. Can these 
heal thy wounded conscience ? Can they support 
thy tottering frame ? Can they keep thy departing 
soul in thy body ? Will they prove to thee eternal 
pleasures, or redeem thy soul from eternal flames? 
Cry aloud to them, and see whether these will now 
be unto thee instead of God and his Christ." how 
this works with the sinner, when sense itself acknow- 
ledges the truth, and even the flesh is convinced of 
the creature's vanity, and our very deceiver is unde- 
ceived. Now he despises his former idols, and calls 
them all miserable comforters. He chides himself for 
his former folly, and pities those that have no higher 
happiness. 

(4.) They are convinced of the absolute necessity, 
the full sufficiency, and the perfect excellency of Jesus 
Christ. This conviction is not by mere argumenta- 
tion, but also by the sense of our desperate misery, as 
a man in famine is convinced of the necessity of food ; 
or as a man that has heard his sentence of condemna- 
tion, is convinced of the necessity of pardon ; or as a 
man that lies in prison for debt is convinced of the ne- 
cessitv of a surety to discharge it. Now the sinner 
finds himself in another case than ever he was aware 
of. He feels an insupportable burden upon him, and 
sees that there is none but Christ can take it oil. He 



THE HEIRS OF THE HEAVENLY RBST. 65 

perceives thai he is under the wrath of God, and that 

the laws proclaim him a rebel and an outlaw, and 
that none hut Christ can make his peace. He feels 
the curse lie upon him, and upon all he has, and that 
Christ alone can make him blessed. He is now 
brought to tills dilemma ; either he must have Christ 
to justify him, or be eternally condemned; he must 
have Christ to bring him to God, or be eternally shut 
out from his presence. And now no wonder, if he 
cry as the martyr Lambert, "None but Christ, hoik; 
but Christ." It is not gold but bread, that will satisfy 
the hungry ; nor any thing but pardon that will com- 
fort the condemned. "All things are now but dross 
and dung ;" and what he counted gain is now " but 
loss in comparison of Christ." For as the sinner sees 
his utter misery, and the inability of liimself and all 
things to relieve him, so he perceives that there is no 
saving mercy out of Christ. 

And as the soul is convinced of the necessity of 
Christ, so also of his full sufficiency. He sees that 
though the fig-leaves of our own righteousness are too 
small to cover our nakedness, yet the righteousness 
of Christ is large enough ; that though ours is dispro- 
portioned to the justice of the law, yet Christ's does 
extend to every tittle. His sufferings being a perfect 
satisfaction to the law, and all power in heaven and 
earth being given to him, he is able to supply all our 
wants, and " to save to the uttermost all that come unto 
God by him." 

The sinner is also convinced of the perfect excel- 
lency of Jesus Christ, both as he is considered in him- 
self, and as considered in relation to us, both as he is 
the only way to the Father, and as he is the end, 
being one with the Father. Before, he knew Christ's 
excellency as a blind man knows the light of the sun; 
but now he knows it as one that beholds his glory. 

2. Change of will. After this sensible conviction, 
the will also discovers its change ; and that in regard 
to all the four objects now mentioned. 

(1.) The sin which the understanding pronounces 
evil, the will accordingly turns from with abhorrence. 

6* 



66 THE HEIRS OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 

Not that the sensitive appetite is changed, or any way- 
made to abhor its object ; but when it would prevail 
against the conclusions of reason, and carry us to sin 
against God, Scripture becomes the rule, and reason 
the master, and sense the servant. This disorder the 
will abhors. 

(2.) The misery which sin lias procured, he not 
only discerns, but bewails. It is impossible that the 
convinced soul should look either on its trespass 
against God, or yet on its own self-procured calamity, 
without compunction and contrition. He who truly 
discerns that he has crucified Christ, and killed him- 
self, will surely in some measure be " pricked at the 
heart." If he cannot weep, he can heartily groan ; 
and his heart feels what his understanding sees. 

(3.) The creature he now renounces as vain, and 
turns it out of his heart with disdain. Not that he 
undervalues it, or disclaims its use ; but only its idol- 
atrous abuse, and its unjust usurpation. 

(4.) He turns to God as his Father, and to Christ 
as his Saviour. Having before been convinced, that 
nothing else can be his happiness, he now finds it is 
in God ; and therefore looks toward it. But yet it is 
rather with desire than hope ; for the sinner has al- 
ready found himself to be a stranger and an enemy to 
God, under the guilt of sin, and the curse of the law ; 
and knows there is no coming to him in peace, till his 
state be changed : and therefore, having before been 
convinced that only Christ is able and willing to do 
this, and having heard this mercy in the gospel freely 
offered, his next act is to accept of Christ Jesus as his 
Saviour and Lord. 

I have said that, in believing in Christ, the soul 
accepts him at once as a Saviour and Lord: for in 
both relations will he be received, or not at all. It is 
not only to acknowledge his sufferings, and accept of 
pardon and L r lory,but to acknowledge his sovereignty, 
and submit to his government 

3. Perseverance in grace. The believer perseveres 
m grace to the (aid. Though he may commit sin, yet 
he never disclaims his Lord, or renounces his allegiance 



THE HEIRS OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 67 

to him. Though this perseverance be certain to true 
believers, yet it is made a condition o[' their final sal- 
vation. And eternally blessed be that hand of love 
which has drawn the free promise, and. subscribed and 
sealed that which ascertains to us, both the grace 
which is the condition, and the kingdom which on 
that condition is pledged to us. 

Thus, I have given you a brief enumeration of the 
essential characteristics of the people of God, not a 
full portraiture of them in all their excellencies, nor all 
the marks whereby they may be discerned. And 
though it will be part of the following application to 
put you upon trial, yet because the description is now 
before your eyes, and is fresh in your memory, it Avill 
not be unseasonable, nor unprofitable for you, to take 
an account of your state, and to view yourselves in 
this glass before you pass on any further. I beseech 
thee, therefore, as thou hast the hope of a Christian, 
and the reason of a man, to search carefully, and 
judge thyself as one that must shortly be judged by 
the righteous God, and faithfully to answer these few 
questions which I shall here propound to thee. 

I will not inquire, whether thou rememberest the 
time or the order of the workings of the Spirit on thy 
soul. There may be much uncertainty and mistake 
in that. But I desire thee to look into thy heart, and 
see whether thou find such works wrought within 
thee, and then, if thou be sure they are there, it is not 
so material though thou know not when or how thou 
earnest by them. 

Hast thou, then, been convinced of the universal 
depravation of thy soul, and of the universal wicked- 
ness of thy life ? Hast thou seen how vile a thing 
sin is, and that, by the tenor of the law which thou 
hast transgressed, the least sin deserves eternal death ? 
Hast thou perceived thyself sentenced by it to this 
death, and been convinced of thy natural undone 
condition ? Hast thou seen the utter insufficiency of 
every creature, either to be itself thy happiness, or 
the means of curing thy misery, and making thee 
happy again in God ? Hast thou been convinced that 



6S THE HEIRS OP THE HEAVENLY REST. 

thy happiness is only in God as the end, and only in 
Christ as the way to him, and that thou must be brought 
to God by Christ, or perish eternally ? 1 last thou seen 
the full sufficiency that is in Christ to do for thee 
whatsoever thy ease requires, by reason of the dignity 
of his person, the greatness of his power, the fulness 
of his satisfaction, and the freeness of his promises? 
1 last thou discovered the excellency of this pearl to be 
worth thy selling all to buy it ? Has all this been 
joined with some sensibility of heart, like the convic- 
tions of a man that thirsts, of the worth of drink, and 
not merely a change of opinion produced by reading 
or education, as a bare notion of the understanding? 
lias it proceeded to an abhorring of sin, I mean in the 
bent and prevailing inclination of thy will, though the 
flesh do attempt to reconcile thee to it? Have both 
thy sin and misery been a burden to thy soul? And 
if thou couldst not weep, yet couldst thou heartily 
groan under the insupportable weight of them ? llast 
thou renounced all thine own righteousness? Hast 
thou turned thy idols out of thy heart so that the crea- 
ture has no more the sovereignty, but is now a servant 
to God and to Christ ? Dost thou accept of Christ as 
thy only Saviour, and expect thy justification, sancti- 
licatioiK and glorification from him only ? Dost thou 
take him also for thy Lord and King ? Are his laws 
the most powerful commanders of thy life and soul, 
and do they ordinarily prevail against the commands 
of the flesh, of Satan, and of the world, and against 
the greatest interest of thy credit, profit, pleasure, or 
lite ? Has Christ the highest room in thy heart and 
affections, so that, though thou dost not love him as 
thou wouldst, yet thou lovest nothing else so much as 
him ? J last thou made a hearty covenant to this end 
with him, and delivered thyself up to him, and taken 
thyself lor hi-;, and not thine own ? Is it thy utmost 
care and watchful endeavour, that thou mayest he 
found faithful in this covenant ; and though thou fall 
into sin, yet wouldst thou not renounce thy bargain, nor 
change thy Lord, nor give up thyself to any other 
government for all the world? If this be truly thy 



THE HEIRS OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 69 

case, thou art one of these people of God, of whom 
my text speaks; and as surely as the promise of God 
is true, this blessed rest remains for thee. Only see 
thou abide in Christ, and persevere to the end; for it 
is they only who endure to the end that shall be saved ; 
but - if any draw back, his soul will have no pleasure 
in them." 

But if no such work has been wrought within thee, 
if thy soul be still a stranger to all this, and thy con- 
science tell thee it is none of thy case, the Lord have 
mercy on thy soul, and open thy eyes, and change thy 
heart ; for in the case thou art in, there is no hope 
Whatever thy deceived heart may think, or how 
strong soever thy hopes be, yet wilt thou shortly find 
to thy cost, except thy conversion prevent it, that thou 
art none of the people of God, and that the rest of the 
saints belongs not to thee. Thy dying hour draws 
near, and so does that great day of separation, when 
God will make an everlasting difference between his 
people and his enemies. Then woe, forever woe to 
thee, if thou be found in the state which thou now art 
in ! Thy own tongue shall then proclaim thy woe, 
with a thousand times more agony and vehemence 
than mine can possibly do it now. that thou werf 
wise, that thou wouldst consider this, that thou wouldst 
remember thy latter end, that yet while thy soul is in 
thy body, and a price in thy hand, and opportunity 
and hope before thee, thy ears may be open to instruc 
tion, and thy heart may yield to the persuasions of 
God ; and thou mayest bend all the powers ol thy 
soul about this great work ; that so thou mayest resJ 
among his people, and enjoy the inheritance of the 
saints in light ! 



70 REASONS WHY 



CHAPTER VI. 

REASONS WHY THE HEAVENLY REST REMAINS, AND 
IS NOT HERE ENJOYED. 

I shall now proceed to show you, why it is said this 
rest remains, and is not to be enjoyed till we come tr. 
another world. 

I. The chief reason is, it is not the will of God that 
we should have our rest on earth. Who should dis- 
pose of the creatures, but he that made them ; and 
order the times and changes respecting them, but their 
absolute Lord, who alone has wisdom to order them 
tor the best, and power to see his will accomplished ? 
You may, therefore, as well ask, Why have we not 
the spring and harvest without winter? Or why is 
not all the world a sun, that it may be more glorious? 
as ask, Why have we not rest on earth ? 

II. It is not the natural order of things that we 
should have our rest on earth. All things must come 
to perfection by degrees. Nothing is perfect in its 
beginning, where the fall brought an imperfection. 
The strongest man must be first a child ; the greatest 
scholar must be first a school-boy; the most skilful 
artificer was first an ignorant learner ; the tallest oak 
was once an acorn. This is the constant course of 
nature in the production of sublunary things. Now, 
lliis life is our infancy ; and would we have God over- 
turn the course of nature for us ? 

III. It would deprive God of much honour if we 
had our rest on earth. If our rest were here, most of 
God's providences would be useless, and his great 
designs would be frustrated. Should God lose the 
glory of all the deliverances of his church, of the fall 
3f his enemies, of the wonders wrought to this end, 
merely that men may have their happiness on earth? 
If man had kept his first rest in paradise, God would 
not have had an opportunity to manifest his far greater 



THE HEAVENLY REST REMAINS. 71 

love to the world in the gift of his Son. If man had 
not fallen into tin 4 depth ol misery, Christ would not 
have come down from the height of glory, nor died, 
nor risen, nor been believed on in the world. 

And as God would not have had opportunity for the 
exereise of all his grace, so he would not have had 
corresponding returns from us. We would never so 
fear offending him, nor depend on him so closely, nor 
call on him so earnestly, if we wanted nothing. Do 
we not even now feel how ready our prayers are to 
become lifeless, if we be but in health, and prosperous, 
though we are still far from contentment and rest? 
How little then would he hear from us, if we had what 
we would have ? God delights in the soul that is 
humble and contrite, and trembles at his word ; but 
thoie would be little of this in us, if we had here our 
fu'v desires. Have not thy own highest joys and 
praises to God, Christian, been occasioned by thy 
dangers, or sorrows, or miseries ? We think we could 
praise God best if we wanted nothing ; but experience 
tells us the contrary. 

IV. It would be no small injury to ourselves, if we 
had our rest on earth. Oh the sweet comforts which 
the saints have had in returns to their prayers, when 
they have been long in sorrow, and God has lifted 
them up, and spoken peace to their souls, and granted 
their desires, and said, as Christ to the paralytic, " Son, 
be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee ; arise 
from thy bed of sickness, and walk, and live !" How 
should we know what a tender hearted Father we 
have, and how gladly he would come forth to meet 
us, and take us in his arms, if we had not, as the pro- 
digal, been denied the husks of earthly pleasure and 
profit, upon which the wordling feeds ! We should 
never have felt Christ's tender hand, binding up our 
wounds, and wiping the tears from our eyes, if we 
had not been involved in sorrows. 

And it would be our loss for the future, as well as 
for the present. It is a delight to a soldier or a tra- 
veller to look back upon his adventures and escapes 
when they are over ; and for a saint in heaven to look 



72 REASONS WHY 

back upon the state in which he was on earth, and to 
remember his sins, his sorrows, his fears, his tears, his 
enemies and dangers, his wants and calamities, must 
needs make his joys more joyful. When he reaches 
his journey's end, he will lookback upon the way. 
When the fight is done, and the danger over, his re- 
joicing in the remembrance of them is not done, nor 
the praises of his Redeemer yet over. But if we had 
nothing but rest on earth, what room would there be 
for these rejoicings and praises in heaven ? 

V. We labour under a natural incapacity of rest 
on earth. 

1. We ourselves are at present incapable subjects 
of rest ; and that in respect both of soul and body. 
Can a soul that is so weak in grace, so prone to sin, 
so hampered with contradictory principles and desires, 
have perfect rest on earth? What is rest, but the per- 
fection of our graces in habit and act, to know God 
perfectly, and love him, and rejoice in him ? How 
then can the soul be at rest, which possesses so little 
of this knowledge, and love, and joy ? 

And our bodies are incapable as well as our souls. 
They are not now those purified bodies which they 
shall be, when this corruptible hath put on incorrup- 
tion, and this mortal hath put on immortality. They 
are our prisons and our burdens, so full of defects and 
infirmities, that we arc fain to spend the most of our 
time in repairing them, and supplying their continual 
wants, and mollifying their grievances. Is it possible 
that an immortal soul should have rest, in such a mean 
and distempered habitation, especially when it every 
day expects to be turned out, and to leave its beloved 
companion to the worms? Surely these sickly and 
weary bodies must be refined to a perfection suitable 
thereto before they can be capable of perfect rest. 

2. We want those objects on earth which can alone 
afford us rest. Those we do enjoy, are insufficient; 
and that which is sufficient is absent from us. 

What we possess here is insufficient to be our rest. 
We enjoy the world, and its labours, and fruits ; but 
alas ! what is there in the world to give us happiness? 



THE HKAVENLY REST REMAINS. 7:* 

They thai have the most of it, have the greatest bur- 
den, and the least rest oi any others. They that set 
most by it, and rejoice most in it, do cry out at last 

that all is -vanity and vexation of spirit." 

And as what we enjoy on earth is insufficient to be 
our rest, so God who is sufficient, is here little enjoyed. 
It is not on earth that he has prepared the presence 
chamber of his glory. He has drawn the curtain 
between us and him. We are far from him as crea- 
tures, and farther as frail mortals, and farthest of all 
as sinners. We hear now and then a word of com- 
fort from him, and. receive his love tokens, to keep up 
our hearts and hopes : but, alas ! this is not our full 
enjoyment. " While we are present in the body, we 
are absent from the Lord;" even absent while he is 
present ; for though he be not far from us, seeing " we 
live, and move, and have our being from him," who 
is all in all, yet have we not eyes now capable of see- 
ing him, for mortals cannot see God and live. And 
can any soul that has made God his portion, and 
chosen him for his only happiness, find rest in so vast 
a distance from him, and so seldom and small enjoy- 
ment of him ? 

Lastly. There is a moral impropriety in our having 
rest on earth. There is a worthiness which must go 
before our rest. It has the nature of a reward ; not, 
indeed, a reward of debt, but a reward of grace. " To 
him that overcometh," says Christ, " will I grant to sit 
down with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, 
and am set down with my Father on his throne." " Be 
thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown 
of life." " I have fought a good fight," says Paul, 
" I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. 
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- 
ness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give 
unto me in that day ; and not to me only, but to all 
them that love his appearing." And are we fit for 
the crown, before we have overcome ; or the prize, 
before we have run the race ; or to be ruler of ten 
cities, before we have improved our ten talents ; or to 
enter into the joy of our Lord, before we have well 

7 



71 WHETHER THE HEAVENLY REST 

done as good and faithful servants ; or to inherit the 
kingdom, before we have manifested our love to Christ, 
by our love to his people ? Let men cry down works 
as they please, yet these you will find are the condi- 
tions of the crown. God will not alter the course of 
justice to give you rest, before you have laboured ; 
nor the crown of glory, till you have overcome. Thus 
we see reasons enough, why our rest should remain 
till the life to come. 



CHAPTER VII. 

WHETHER DEPARTED SOULS ENJOY THE HEAVENLY 
REST BEFORE THE RESURRECTION. 

I have but one thing more to clear, before I come to 
the use of this doctrine, and that is, whether the hea- 
venly rest remain till the resurrection, before we shall 
enjoy it, or whether we shall have possession of it 
before. Truly, it would be a somewhat uncomforta- 
ble doctrine to the godly at their death, to think of 
being deprived of their glory till the resurrection ; but 
though the soul separated from the body will not enjoy 
the glory and happiness of heaven so fully and per- 
fectly as it shall after the resurrection, when they shall 
be again united ; yet, that the souls of believers do 
enjoy inconceivable blessedness and glory, even while 
they remain separated from the body, I shall prove by 
the following considerations : — 

1. Though the discourse of the rich man in hell, and 
Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, be but a parable ; yet 
it is unlikely that Christ would employ language even 
in a parable, which seemed evidently to intimate and 
suppose the happiness or misery of the soul immedi- 
ately after death, if there were no such thing. 

Does not Christ's argument with the Sadducees 
proceed upon this supposition ? " God," says he, " is 



IS ENJOYED BEFORE THE RESURRECTION. 75 

not the God of the dead, but of the living;" and con- 
sequently the .souls of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were 

then living. 

3. Docs not Scripture tell us, that Enoch and Elijah 
arc already taken up to heaven? And can we think 
that they possess that glory alone ? 

l. Did not Peter, and James, and John, see Moses 
also with Christ on the Mount ? Yet the Scripture 
says Moses died. And is it likely that Christ deluded 
their senses, in showing them Moses, if he did not 
partake of that glory till the resurrection ? 

5. The words of Christ to the thief on the cross, 
very clearly teach us this doctrine, " This day shalt 
thou be with me in paradise." 

6. The words of Stephen are, in like manner, as 
plain as we can desire, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 
Surely, if the Lord received it, it is neither asleep, nor 
dead, nor annihilated 5 but is where he is, and beholds 
his glory. 

7. These words of Paul, are so exceedingly plain, 
that I yet understand not what tolerable exception can 
be made against them, " We know that if our earthly 
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a 
building of God, an house not made with hands, eter- 
nal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly 
desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is 
from heaven : If so be that being clothed, we shall not 
be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle 
do groan, being burdened ; not for that we would be 
unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be 
swallowed up of life. Therefore we are always con- 
fident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the 
body, we are absent from the Lord : (for we walk by 
faith, not by sight.) We are confident, I say, willing 
rather to be absent from the body, and present with 
the Lord." What could be spoken more plainly ? 

8. No less clear is that declaration of the same apos- 
tle, in his epistle to the Philippians : — " I am in a 
strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and be 
with Christ, which is far better." What sense were 
there in these words, if Paul had not expected to enjoy 



76 REST BEFORE THE RESURRECTION. 

Christ till the resurrection ? Why should he be in a 
strait, or desire to depart ? Would he be with Christ 
ever the sooner for that ? Nay, should he not rather 
have been loath to depart upon the very grounds 
which he here states ? for while he was in the flesh, 
he enjoyed something of Christ ; but being departed, 
he would, according to this doctrine, enjoy nothing of 
Christ till the resurrection. 

9. Consider that declaration in the epistle to the 
Hebrews : " Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto 
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 
and to an innumerable company of angels, to the gene- 
ral assembly and church of the first-born, which are 
written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to 
the spirits of just men made perfect." 

Lastly, That passage is no less plain, " Blessed are 
the dead that die in the Lord, from henceforth, yea, 
saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, 
and their works do follow them." If the blessedness 
were only in resting in the grave, then a beast or stone 
were as blessed ; nay, it were evidently a curse, and 
not a blessing. 

Though I have but briefly named these arguments, 
yet I doubt not but if you will consider them, you will 
discern the clear evidence of this important truth. 
Believe, therefore, O faithful souls, whatever all the 
deceivers in the world may say to the contrary, that 
your souls shall no sooner leave their prisons of flesh, 
than angels will be their convoy ; Christ, with all the 
perfected spirits of the just, will be their company ; 
heaven will be their residence, and God will be their 
happiness. You may therefore when you die, boldly 
say as Stephen, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," or, 
as Christ, " Falher, into thy hands 1 commend my 
spirit." 



BOOK II 



CHAPTER I. 

THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO LOSE THE HEAVENLY 

REST. 

If there remains a rest for the people of God only, 
what doleful tidings is this to the ungodly world ! 
That there is so much glory, but none for them ; so 
great joys for the saints of God, while they must con- 
sume in perpetual sorrows ; such rest for them that 
have obeyed the gospel, while they must be forever 
restless in the flames of hell ! If thou who readest 
these words art a stranger to Christ, and shalt live and 
die in thy present condition, let me tell thee, I am a 
messenger of the saddest tidings to thee, that ever thy 
ears did hear, Thou shalt never partake of the joys of 
heaven, nor taste of the saints' eternal rest. If thou 
live and die in thy unregenerate state, as sure as the 
heavens are over thy head, and the earth under thy 
feet ; as sure as thou livest and breathest in this air, 
so surely shalt thou be shut out of this rest of the 
saints, and receive thy portion in everlasting fire. 

Perhaps, indeed, thou wilt turn upon me, and in 
the pride of thy heart, say, Who made you the door- 
keeper of heaven ? And when did God show you the 
book of life, or tell you who they are that shall be 
saved, and who shut out ? 

Now, in reply to this, I would say, First, I do not 
name thee, or any other : I do not conclude of persons 
individually, and say, This man shall be shut out of 
heaven, and that man shall be taken in. I only con- 
clude it of the unregenerate in general, and of thee con- 

7* 77 



78 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO 

ditionally, If thou be such an one. Secondly, I do not 
go about to determine who shall repent, and who 
shall not, much less that thou shalt never repent and 
come to Christ. These things are unknown to me. 
I would for rather persuade thee to hearken in time, 
before the door is shut, that so thy soul may return 
and live, than tell thee that there is no hope of thy re 
penting and returning. But if thou lie hoping that 
thou shalt return, and never do it ; if thou talk of 
repenting and believing, but still indulge in delay ; 
if thou live and die with the world, is it a hard ques- 
tion, whether or not thou shalt be saved ? Cannot I 
certainly tell, that thou shalt perish for ever, except I 
had seen the book of life ? Why, the Bible also is the 
book of life, and it describes plainly those that shall be 
saved, and those that shall be condemned. Though it 
does not name them, yet it tells you all those signs 
and conditions by which they may be known. Do I 
need to ascend up to heaven to know, " that without 
holiness no man shall see the Lord ?" or, * that it 
is the pure in heart who shall see God ?" or, "that 
except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the 
kingdom of God?" or, "that he that believeth not 
is condemned already ; and that he shall not see life, 
but the wrath of God abideth on him?" and that 
" except you repent, you shall all perish," with a hun- 
dred more such plain Scripture expressions ? Cannot 
these be known without searching into God's counsels? 
Why, has thy Bible lain by thee in thy house so 
long, and didst thou never read such words as these ? 
Or hast thou read it, and yet dost thou not remember 
such passages as these? Nay, didst thou not find, 
that the great drift of the Scripture is, to show men 
who they are that shall be saved, and who not, and 
Set them sec the condition of both estates? And yet 
dost thou ask me how I know who shall be saved ? 
Is it not decreed, that if thou love father, mother, wife, 
children, houses, lands, or thine own life better than 
Christ, thou canst not be his disciple ? Is this the 
word of man, or of God ? Is it not then an undoubted 
truth, that in the state in which thou now art, thou 



LOSE THE HEAVENLY REST. 79 

hast not the least title to heaven? Shall I tell thee 
from the word of God, It is as impossible for thee to 
be saved, except thou be born again, and be made a 

new creature, as it is for the devils themselves to be 
saved? Nay, God has more plainly and frequently 

declared in the Scripture, that such sinners as thou 
shall never be saved, than he has done that the devils 
shall never be saved. What trembling should seize 
on thee, who hast the hand of God against thee, — and 
that not in a sentence or two only, but in the whole 
tenor and scope of the Scriptures, — not threatening 
thee with the loss of a temporal kingdom only, as he 
did Belshazzar, but with the loss of an everlasting 
kingdom ? But because I would fain have thee to 
lay this close to thy heart, I will stop a little longer, 
and show thee, 

First j The nature of thy loss. 

Secondly, The aggravations of thy loss. 

Thirdly, The extent of thy loss, as including all 
that is comfortable on earth, as well as heaven. 

Lastly, The greatness of the positive torments of 
the damned in hell. 



SECTION I. 

The Nature of the Sinner's Loss. 

I. The ungodly will lose all that glorious personal 
perfection which the people of God shall enjoy in 
heaven. They will lose that shining lustre of the 
body, surpassing the brightness of the sun at noonday, 
with which the saints shall be invested. But if they 
will lose that corporeal glory with which the saints 
shall be invested, much more will they lose that moral 
perfection which is characteristic of the heavenly state, 
those holy dispositions and qualifications of mind, that 
blessed conformity to the image of God, that cheerful 
readiness to do his will, that perfect rectitude in all 
their actions, which adorn all the inhabitants of heaven, 
whether men or angels. Instead of this, they shall 
have that perverseness of will, that disorder of their 



SO THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO 

affections, that loathing of good, that love of evil, that 
violence of passion, which they had on earth. It is 
true, their understandings will be much enlightened, 
by the sad experience which they will have in hell, 
of the falsehoods of their former conceits and delusions. 
Jt is true, they will cease from many of those sins 
which they commit here on earth. They will be 
drunk no more, satisfy raging lusts no more, be glut- 
tonous no more; nor oppress the innocent, nor grind 
the poor, nor devour the houses and estates of their 
brethren, nor persecute and destroy the members of 
Christ. These, and many other sins, they will lay 
aside. But this will not arise from any renovation of 
their natures: they will have the same dispositions 
still ; their hearts will be as bad, nay worse, than ever, 
though their course of action will be changed, because 
tii.' opportunities for indulgence are gone for ever. 

II. They shall lose the favour and presence of God. 
As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, 
but said, "Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge 
of thy ways;" so he will abhor to retain them in his 
household, or to give them entertainment in his fellow- 
ship and glory. He will never admit them to the in- 
heritance of his saints, nor permit them to stand 
among them in his presence, but will say, " Depart 
from me, I know you not, ye workers of iniquity." 
Then, though they had preached, or wrought mira- 
cles in his name, he will not know them; and even 
those that did eat and drink in his presence on earth, 
shall be cast out of his heavenly presence for ever. 
Oh, little does the world now know what a loss that 
soul suffers which loses God ! As the enjoyment of 
God is the heaven of the saints ; so the loss of God is 
the hell of the ungodly. As the enjoying of God is 
the enjoying of all ; so the loss of God is the loss of all. 

III. They shall lose all those spiritual and delight- 
ful affections and employments, by which the saints 
feed on God. That transporting knowledge, those 
ravishing views of his glorious face, the inconceivable 
pleasure of loving him, the apprehensions of his infi- 
nite love to us, and the rivers of consolation where- 



LOSE THE HEAVENLY REST. SI 

with he will satisfy his people, will be all unknown to 
them. And is it nothing to lose all this ? 

Sinners had no delight in praising God on earth. 
Their recreations and pleasures were of another kind, 
and now when the saints are employed in magnifying 
him, and singing his praises, the ungodly will be de- 
nied this happiness, and have employment suitable to 
their natures and deserts. Their hearts were full of 
hell upon earth. Instead of God, and his love, and 
fear, and grace, they were full of pride and self-love, 
and lust, and unbelief; and therefore hell must now 
entertain those hearts, which formerly entertained so 
much of it. Their houses on earth were the resem- 
blance of hell. Instead of worshipping God, and 
calling upon his name, there was scorning at his wor- 
ship, and swearing by his name ; and therefore now 
hell must be their habitation for ever, where they shall 
never be troubled with that worship which they ab- 
horred, but join with the rest of the damned in blas- 
pheming that God, who is avenging their former im- 
pieties and blasphemies. Can it be expected, that 
they who made themselves merry while on earth, in 
deriding the persons and families of the godly, for their 
frequent worshipping and praising God, should at last 
be admitted into the family of heaven, and join with 
those very saints in their most perfect praises ? Surely 
without a change upon their hearts before they go 
hence, this is utterly impossible. It will be too late 
then to say, ' " Give us of your oil, for our lamps are 
gone out ;" let us " enter with you to the marriage- 
feast ;" let us now join with you in the joyful heavenly 
melody/ You should have joined in it on earth, if 
you would have joined in it in heaven. As your eyes 
must be taken up with other kind of sights, so must 
your hearts be taken up with other kind of thoughts, 
and your voices turned to other kind of tunes. There 
will be no singing of the songs of Sion in the land of 
your thraldom ; " they that go down to the pit do not 
praise him." Who can rejoice in the place of sorrows ? 
Who can be glad in the land of confusion ? 

IV. They shall lose the blessed society of angels 



82 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO 

and glorified saints. Instead of being companions of 
those happy spirits, and numbered with those who 
are made kings and priests unto God, they shall be 
members of the corporation of hell, where they shall 
have companions of a far different nature and quality. 
While they lived on earth, they loathed the saints, or 
at least they would not be their companions in labour, 
and in suffering ; and therefore they shall not now be 
their companions in their glory. You will be shut out 
of that company from which you first shut out 
yourselves, and you will be separated from them, with 
whom you would not be joined on earth. They mo- 
lested you with their faithful reproofs of your sin. 
Their holy conversation troubled your consciences; 
they condemned your looseness by their strictness, 
your profaneness by their holiness, your negligence 
by their diligence. The day is near when they will 
trouble you no more. " Between them and you there 
will be a great gulf fixed, so that they which would 
pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass 
to them who would come from thence. " 



SECTION II. 

The Aggravations of the Sinner's Loss. 

Perhaps, however, some will be ready to think, if 
this be all, they do not much care; they can bear it 
well enough. What care they for losing the personal 
perfection of the saints ? What care they for losing 
God's favour, or presence ? They lived joyfully 
without him on earth, and why should it be so 
grievous to be without him hereafter? What care 
they for being deprived of spiritual affections and en- 
joyment? They never tasted sweetness in things of 
that nature. Or what care they for being deprived of 
the fellowship of angels and saints? They could 
spare their company in this world, and why may they 
not be without it in the world to come? To make 
sinners therefore understand the nature of their future 



LOSE THE HEAVENLY REST. 83 

condition, I will show them why the loss of heaven 
vnh then be intolerable, and most tormenting to them, 
though it seem as nothing to them now. 

I. The understanding of the ungodly will then be 
cleared and enlarged, to know the worth of what they 
have lost. Now they lament not their loss of God, 
because they never knew his excellency; nor the loss 
of the holy employments and society of heaven, for 
they were never sensible of their worth. A man who 
has lost a jewel, and took it but for a common stone, 
is never troubled at his loss ; but when he comes to 
know what he has lost, then he laments it. Though 
the understandings of the damned will not then be 
sanctified, yet will they be cleared from a multitude 
of errors which now possess them, and mislead them 
to their ruin. Now they think that their honour with 
men, their estates, their pleasures, their health and 
life, are better worth their study and labour, than the 
things of another world, which they never saw ; but 
when these things which had their hearts, shall have 
deserted them in their greatest need ; when they shall 
come to know by experience, the things which before 
they did but read and hear of, they will then be of 
quite another mind. They are now in a dead sleep, 
and they dream they are the happiest men in the 
world, and that the godly are but a company of fools, 
and that either heaven will be theirs, as surely as an- 
other's, or else that they may make shift without it, as 
they have done here ; but when death shall smite these 
men, and bid them awake, and shall rouse them out 
of their pleasant dreams, how will they stand up 
amazed and confounded ! How will their judgments 
be changed in a moment ! They that would not see, 
shall then see, and be ashamed. 

Besides, as the understanding of the ungodly will be 
cleared, so it will be more enlarged, and made more 
capacious to conceive of the worth of that glory which 
they have lost. The strength of their apprehensions, 
as well as the truth of them, will then be increased. 
What deep apprehensions of the madness of sinning, 
of the misery of sinners, of the wrath of God, have 



84 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO 

those souls tli.it now endure this misery, in compari- 
son of those on earth who do hut hear of it! What 
lively apprehensions of the worth of life has the con- 
demned malefactor, who is going to be executed, in 
comparison of what he used to have in the time of 
his prosperity ! Much more will the actual privation 
of eternal blessedness make the damned exceedingly 
sensible of the greatness of their loss. 

II. The consciences of the ungodly will make a 
close and faithful application of this loss to themselves, 
a circumstance which will exceedingly aggravate their 
torment. It will then be no difficult matter for them 
to say, " This is my loss ; this is my everlasting reme- 
diless misery." The want of this self-application is 
the main cause why they are now so little troubled at 
their condition; they are with difficulty brought to 
believe that there is such a state of misery, but more 
hardly still to believe that this state is likely to be 
their own. This makes so many sermons to be lost 
upon them, and all the threatening^ and warnings of 
God to prove in vain. It is a most difficult work to 
make a proud man know that he is proud, — or a 
covetous man, that he is covetous, — or an ignorant, 
erroneous, heretical man, that such is his character ; 
but to make any of these confess their sins, and apply 
the threatening, and believe themselves the children 
of wrath, this is to human strength an impossibility. 
Though we should preach to them as long as we live, 
we cannot make them believe that their danger is so 
great ; nay, though a man should rise from the dead, 
and appear to them, and warn them that they come 
not into the place of torment, and tell them that such 
and such of their beloved or honourable friends, who 
did as truly think to be saved as they, are now in 
hell, and ask in vain for a drop of water to cool their 
tongues ; yet would they not be persuaded by all this ; 
for Christ himself has said, " If they hear not Moses 
and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded 
though one' should rise from the dead." 

Hut ! when they shall suddenly find themselves 
in the land of darkness, when they shall perceive, by 



LOSE THE HEAVENLY RSST. 85 

the execution of the sentence, thai they are indeed 

condemned, and sec that they are excluded from the 
sence of God few ever, and feel themselves in the 
ching flames, it will then be no such difficult mat- 
ter to convince them of their misery. This particular 
application of God's anger to themselves, will then be 
the thing in the world; then they cannot but 

know and apply it, whether they will or not. 

111. The affections of the ungodly will be more 
lively and enlarged than they are now. As their 
judgment will be no longer blinded, nor their con- 
sciences stilled and bribed ; so their affections will be 
no longer so stupefied and dead. A hard heart now 
makes heaven and hell seem to them but trifles. When 
we have shown them everlasting glory and everlast- 
ing misery, they are as men half asleep ; they scarcely 
notice what we say. But ! what passionate sensi- 
bility, what powerful affections, what pangs of horror, 
what depth of sorrow will then be seen ! the self- 
accusing and self-tormenting fury of these lost beings ! 
How will they be God's executioners upon themselves ! 
And let them not think that, if they must torment 
themselves, they will do well enough, they will have 
sense enough to ease and favour themselves, and reso- 
lution enough to control this violence of their passions. 
Alas ! they little know what passions these will be, 
and how much beyond the power of their resolutions 
to command or suppress them ! Why have not de- 
spairing souls on earth power to refrain from torment- 
ing themselves with continual terrors ? It is as easy 
for them to stop the rivers in their course, or to bound 
the overflowing waves of the ocean, as to stop the 
stream of their violent passions, or to restrain those 
sorrows that overflow their souls. how much less, 
then, can those condemned souls, who see the glory 
before them which they have lost, restrain their heart- 
rending, self-tormenting passions ! You are as stocks 
or stones under the threatenings of God's wrath, but 
you will be most tenderly sensible under the execution 
of it. how happy would you think yourselves, if 
you were turned into rocks, or any thing that had 

8 ' 



86 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO 

licit) km* sense nor passion ! how happy would you 
be it* you could then feel, as lightly as you were wont 
to hear ; and if you could sleep out the time of execu- 
tion, ;is yon did" the time of the sermons that warned 
you of it ! But all ! your stupidity will then be gone 
for ever ! 

IV. The memories of the ungodly will be active 
and capacious, which will cause these violent passions 
to be ever working. 

I will here briefly notice some of these considera- 
tions which will thus feed the anguish of the damned. 

1. It will torment them to think of the greatness of 
the glory which they have lost. ! if it had been 
that which they could have spared, it had been a 
small matter ; or if it had been a loss which might be 
repaired ; if it had been health, or wealth, or friends, 
or life, it had been nothing ; but to lose that " exceed- 
ing and eternal weight of glory," — the thought of this 
will drink up their spirits. 

2. It will torment them to think of the possibility 
there once was of their obtaining the glory they have 
now lost. Then they will remember, " If I had acted 
my part wisely and faithfully, I might now have been 
in possession of the heavenly inheritance ; I might 
have been among yonder blessed saints, who am now 
tormented witli these damned fiends ! The Lord did 
set before me life and death, and having chosen death, 
I deserve to suffer it. The prize was once held out 
before me : if I had run well, I might have obtained 
it ; if I had striven, I might have got the mastery ; if 
I had fought valiantly, I might have won the crown !" 

3. It will torment them to remember not only the 
possibility, but the probability, there once was of their 
obtaining the glory they have now lost. It will wound 
them to the quick to think, "Why, I had once the influ- 
ence of the Spirit ready to assist me. I was fully pur- 
posed to be another man, to cleave to Christ, and to 
forsake the world. I was almost resolved to be wholly 
for God ; I was once even turning from my base se- 
ducing lusts ; I had cast off my old companions, and 
was resolved to associate myself with the godly : and 



LOSE THE HEAVENLY REST. S7 

jrel I turned back, and lost my hold, and broke my 
promises, and slacked my purposes. how fair was 
1 once for heaven ! I had almost won the prize, and 
yet 1 have lost it. If I had but " followed on to know 
the Lord/' and brought those beginnings to maturity, 
and blown up the spark of desires and purposes which 
3 kindled in me, 1 had now been blessed among the 
saint 

4. It will torment them to remember the fair oppor- 
tunities which they once had of obtaining this glory, 
but which they now have lost. To look back upon 
an age spent in vanity, when their salvation was at 
stake ; to think how many weeks, and months, and 
years they lost, which, if they had improved, they 
might now have been happy, — this will sting them to 
the quick. "Wretch that I was/' may the sinner 
exclaim, * could I find no time to study the work for 
which I had all my time ? Had I no time, amidst all 
my labours, to labour for eternity ? Had I time to 
eat, and drink, and sleep, and work, and none to seek 
the salvation of my soul ? Had I time for mirth, and 
sports, and vain discourse, and none for prayer, or 
meditation on the life to come ? Could I take time to 
look after my estate in the world, and none to try my 
title to heaven, and to make sure of my spiritual and 
everlasting welfare ? precious time ! whither art 
thou fled ? I had once time enough, and now I shall 
have no more ! I had so much, that I knew not what 
to do with it. I was fain to devise pastimes, and to talk 
it away, and trifle it away ; and now it is gone, never 
to return ! the golden hours which I enjoyed ! 
Had I spent but one year of all those years, or but 
one month of all those months, in earnest examination 
of Scripture truth, and seeking God with my whole 
heart, it had now been happy for me. But now my 
time is past, my days are cut off, my glass is run, my 
sun is set, and will rise no more. that I had but 
one of these years to live over again ! that it were 
possible to recall one day, one hour of that time ! But 
it is now too late, — alas! too late for ever !" 

Thus will the remembrance of the time which they 



88 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO 

lost on earth be a continual torment to these condemned 
souls. 

5. It will torment them to remember how often 
they were persuaded to return, both by ministers in 
public, and by their godly faithful friends in private. 
J low will every request and exhortation of ministers 
now be as a fiery dart in the spirit of the poor sinner! 
How fresh will every sermon come into his mind, — 
even those which he had forgotten as soon as heard ! 
He even seems still to hear the voice of the minister, 
and to see his tears. "Oh, how fain would he have 
had me to escape these torments ! How earnestly did 
he entreat me ! With what love and tender compas- 
sion did he beseech me ! How did his bowels yearn 
with pity over me, and yet I hardened my heart 
against all this ! How often did he convince me that 
all was not well with me, and yet I stifled all these 
convictions l" 

Thus will the remembrance of all the means of 
grace which they ever enjoyed be fuel to feed the 
flames in their consciences. Oh, that sinners would 
but think of this, while they sit under the plain instruc- 
tions and pressing exhortations of a faithful ministry ! 
How dear must they pay for all this, if it do not pre- 
vail with them ; and how will they wish a thousand 
times, in the anguish of their souls, that they had 
either obeyed his doctrine, or had never heard him ! 

6. It will torment them to remember that God him- 
self condescended to entreat them ; that, in fact, all the 
entreaties of ministers were the entreaties of God. 
How long did he wait, how freely did he offer, how 
affectionately did he invite, and how importunately 
did he solicit them ! How did the Spirit continue 
striving with their hearts, as if he were loath to take 
a denial ! How did Christ importune them, sermon 
after sermon, and one Sabbath after another, saying, 
" Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man 
will open the door, I will come in to him, and will 
sup with him and he with me !" Oh that thou 
WOUldst hearken to my commandments! "Then 
should thy peace be as a river, and thy righteousness 



LOSE THE HEAVENLY REST. 89 

as the waves of the sea: though thy sins be as 
scarlet, I will make them as white us snow." 
What, sinner ! Shall the God of all the earth beseech 
thee to be happy, beseech thee to have pity upon thine 
own soul, and wilt thou not regard him? 

Oh, how all these passionate pleadings of Christ 
■will transport the damned with self-indignation! 
How fresli will the remembrance of them be ever in 
their minds, piercing their souls with renewed tor- 
ments! Then will they cry out against themselves, 
Oh, how justly is all this befallen me ! I tired out 
the patience of Christ. I made the God of heaven 
follow me from my house to the church, from the 
church to my chamber, till I wearied him with crying 
unto me, Repent, return ! Had the Lord of all the 
worlds thus to wait on me, and all in vain ? Oh, how 
justly is that patience now turned into fury, which 
falls upon my soul with irresistible violence ! 

7. It will torment them to remember on what easy 
terms they might have escaped from hell, and won 
heaven. If their work had been to remove mountains, 
to conquer kingdoms, to fulfil the law to the smallest 
tittle, then the impossibility would somewhat assuage 
the rage of their self-accusing conscience. If the con- 
ditions of obtaining heaven had been the satisfying of 
justice for all their transgressions, the suffering of all 
that the law laid upon them, why, this were nothing 
but to suffer hell to escape hell. But the conditions 
were of another nature. The yoke was easy, and the 
burden light, which Jesus Christ would have laid upon 
them ; his commandments were not grievous. It was 
but to believe in him as the Saviour of sinners ; to re- 
pent of our transgressions ; to study his will ; to renounce 
all other happiness but that which he procures us r and 
to take him alone for the chief good ; to renounce the 
world and the flesh, and to submit to his meek and 
gracious government ; to forsake the ways of our own 
devising, and to walk in his holy ways ; to engage 
ourselves to this by covenant with him, and to con- 
tinue faithful in that covenant. These were the terms 
on which they might have enjoyed the kingdom. 

8* 



90 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO 

And was there anything unreasonable in all tins? 
Or bad they any thing to object against it? Was it a 
hard bargain to have heaven upon these conditions, 
when all the price that is required is only our accept- 
ing it in that way in which the wisdom of our Lord 
thinks meet to bestow it ? 

Oh ! when the poor tormented wretch shall look back 
upon these easy terms which he refused, how it will 
rend his very heart. " Ah !" exclaims he, " what 
had all the trouble of duty been, in comparison of the 
trouble, which I now sustain ! Or all the sufferings 
for Christ and well-doing, in comparison of these suf- 
ferings which I must undergo for ever ! What if I 
had spent my days in the strictest life that ever did 
saint! What if I had lived ever upon my knees ! 
What if I had lost my credit with men, and borne the 
reproach and scorn of the foolish, and been hated of 
all men for the sake of Christ ! What if I had been 
imprisoned, or banished, or put to death ! Oh ! what 
had all this been, in comparison of the miseries which 
I now must suffer !" 

8. It will torment them to remember for what it 
was they sold their eternal welfare in heaven. When 
they compare the value of the pleasures of sin with 
the recompense of reward, which they sacrificed for 
these pleasures, — how will the vast disproportion as- 
tonish them ! To think of a few gay hours, a few 
sweet morsels, a little ease, or low delight to the flesh, 
the applauding breath of mortal men, or the posses- 
sion of so much gold on earth ; and then to think of 
everlasting glory, — how immense will appear the 
dilierence between them; to think that this is all he 
had for his soul, his God, his hopes of everlasting 
blessedness, — how will these thoughts tear his very 
heart! Then will he exclaim against his folly, " 
for how small a matter have I parted with my happi- 
ness ! I had but a dream of delight for my hopes of 
heaven: and now that I am awakened, it is all 
vanished. Where are now my honours and atten- 
dance? Who applauds me, or trumpets forth my 
praises? My pleasures are now turned to gall and 



LOSE THE HEAVENLY REST. 91 

wormwood ; and is this all that I had for the inesti- 
mable treasure which I have lost ! Oh ! what a mad 
exehangedid I make ! What if I had gained all the 

world, and lost my soul? Would it have been a pro- 
fitable exchange? But, alas! how small a part of 
the world was it, for which I gave up my part in 
glory!" that sinners would think of this, when 
they are swimming in the delights of flesh, and study- 
ing to be rich and honourable in the world; when 
they are desperately venturing upon known transgres- 
sions, and sinning against the checks of conscience ! 

9. It will torment them to think that all this was 
their own doing, and that they wilfully procured their 
own destruction. Had they been forced to sin, whether 
they would or not, or if they were punished for an- 
other man's transgressions, or if any other had been 
the chief author of their ruin, it would much abate 
the rage of their consciences. But to think, that it 
was the choice of their own wills, and that none in 
the world could have forced them to sin against their 
wills, this will be a cutting thought to their hearts. 
" What !" will the sinner exclaim, " had I not enemies 
enough in the world, that I was an enemy to my- 
self ! God would neither give the devil nor the world 
so much power over me, as to force me to commit the 
least transgression. If I had not consented, their 
temptations would have been in vain : they could not 
entice me ; it was I myself that yielded and did the 
evil." Thus will it agonize the hearts of poor sinners 
to remember that they were the cause of their own 
undoing ; and that they wilfully and obstinately per- 
sisted in their rebellion, and were volunteers in the 
service of the devil. 

Lastly, It will wound their consciences still deeper 
when they remember, that their damnation was not 
only their own doing, but that they were at so much 
cost and pains for the accomplishment of it. What 
great undertakings did they engage in to effect their 
own ruin ! To resist God, to quench the Spirit, to over- 
come the power of mercies, judgments, and the word 
itself, to silence conscience, to drown reason, all this 



92 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO 

they undertook and performed. Oh, the labour and 
suffering it costs poor sinners to be damned ! Sobriety 
they mighl have had at a cheaper rate, with health 
and ease, yet they will rather have gluttony and 
drunkenness, with poverty and shame, and sickness. 
Contentment they might have had with ease and de- 
light, yet will they rather have covetousness and am- 
bition, though it cost them study, and care, and fears, 
and labour of body and mind, and a continual unquiet- 
ness and distraction of spirit, and often a shameful 
overthrow at the last. Though anger torments, and 
revenge and envy consume their spirits ; though un- 
cleanness destroys their bodies and estates, and repu- 
tation, yet will they do and suffer all this, rather than 
suffer their souls to be saved. Oh, how will the re- 
view of this feed the flames of hell ! 

Thus have I shown you some of those thoughts 
which will aggravate the misery of sinners through 
the ages of eternity. Oh ! that God would persuade 
thee who readest these words, to take up these thoughts 
now seasonably and soberly for the prevention of that 
inconceivable calamity, that so thou mayest not be 
forced, in despite of thyself, to take them up in hell as 
thy own tormentors. 



SECTION III. 

They shall lose all things that are comfortable on 
Earth, as well as Heaven. 

Having shown you these considerations which will 
aggravate their misery, I shall next show you some 
additional losses which will still further augment it ; 
for as godliness has the promise both of this life, and 
of that which is to come ; and as God has said, that if 
we seek first his kingdom, and righteousness, all other 
things shall be added to them ; so also are the ungodly 
threatened, with the loss both of spiritual and of tem- 
poral blessings; and because they sought not first 
Christ's kingdom and righteousness they shall lose 
both them and that which they did seek. If they 



LOSE THE HEAVENLY REST. 93 

could but have kept their present enjoyments, they 

would not have eared much for the lo.ss of heaven. 
But catching at the shadow, and losing the substance, 
they now find that they have lost both; and that 
when they rejected Christ, they rejected all things. 

li' they had lost and forsaken all for Christ, they 
would have found all again in him, for he would 
have been all in all to them, lint now that they 
have forsaken Christ for other things, they shall lose 
Christ, and that also for which they forsook him. 

But I will mention more particularly some of their 
other losses, which will aggravate their loss of heaven. 

I. They shall lose their present presumptuous belief 
of their interest in the favour of God, and in the merits 
and sufferings of Christ. This false belief now sup- 
ports their spirits, and fortifies them against the fears of 
the wrath to come. As true faith affords the soul well- 
grounded support and consolation, and enables us to 
look to eternity with undaunted courage ; so a false 
faith affords false comfort, and abates the trouble of the 
consideration of judgment and damnation. But alas ! 
this is a mere palliative, a deceitful comfort ; and what 
will ease their trouble, when it is gone ? When they 
can believe no longer, they will be quieted no longer, 
and rejoice no longer. If a man be near to the 
greatest mischief, and yet believe that he is in safety, 
his conceit may make him as cheerful as if all were 
well, till his misery comes, and then both his conceit 
and comfort will vanish together. An ungrounded 
persuasion of happiness is a poor cure for real misery. 
When the mischief comes, it will cure the misbelief; 
but that belief can neither prevent nor cure the mis- 
chief. If no more were necessary to make a man 
happy but to believe he is so, or shall be so, happi- 
ness would be far commoner than it is likely to be. 

I would be very loath to weaken the faith of the 
meanest Christian, or to persuade any man that his 
faith is false, when it is true. God forbid that I should 
disparage that precious grace which hath the stamp 
of the Spirit ; or trouble the soul which Christ would 
have comforted ! But I must needs in faithfulness tell 



94 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO 

thee, that the confident belief of their good estate, and 
of the pardon of their Bins, which the careless, unholy, 
and unhumbled sometimes boast of, will prove in the 
end a soul-damning delusion. There is none of this 
believing in hell; nor any persuasion of pardon or 
happiness, nor any boasting of their honesty, nor any 
justifying of themselves. This was but Satan's strat- 
agem, that, being blindfold, they might follow him the 
more boldly ; but then he will uncover their eyes, and 
they shall see where they are. 

II. With their loss of heaven they will lose also all 
their hopes. In this life, though they were threatened 
with the wrath of God, yet their hope of escaping it 
did bear up their hearts ; and when they were wound- 
ed by the terrors of the word, they quieted themselves 
with their groundless hopes ; but then they shall part 
with their hopes and Heaven together. So strong are 
many men's hopes, that they are represented as dis- 
puting with Christ himself in judgment, and pleading 
their eating and drinking in his presence, their preach- 
ing in his name, and casting out devils (and these are 
more plausible arguments than our baptism, and com- 
mon profession, and having the name of Christians ; ) 
they will even stoutly deny that ever they neglected 
Christ in hunger, or thirst, or nakedness, or prison, till 
he himself confute them with the sentence of their 
everlasting condemnation. Oh, the sad state of these 
men, when they must bid farewell to all their hopes ; 
— when their hopes shall all perish with them ! " The 
eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, 
and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost." 

Methinks it is the most doleful spectacle that this 
world affords, to see an ungodly person dying, and to 
think of his soul and his hopes departing together, and 
with what a sad change he shall presently appear in 
another world. Oh! if one could but speak with that 
hopeless soul, and ask it, What ! Are you now as con- 
fident of salvation as you were wont to be ? Do you 
now hope to be saved as soon as the most godly? 
what a sad answer would he return! The poor sin- 
ner is like Korah, Dathan, and their companions, who, 



LOSE THE in: v\ i:\ly REST* 95 

while they were confident in their rebellion against 
the Lord, were suddenly swallowed up, and then' 
hopes with them; or like a criminal on the gallows, 
who has a strong expectation thai he will receive a 
pardon, and so hopes and hopes till lie drops into eter- 
nity. Such a sudden overthrow of their hopes will 
all unregenerate sinners receive. 

that careless sinner^ would be awakened to think 
of this in time ! If thou who art reading these lines 
be one oi this description, I do here as a friend beseech 
thee, that, as thou wouldst not have all thy hopes de- 
ceive thee, when thou shalt most need them, thou pre- 
sently try them, whether they will stand the test of 
Scripture ; and if thou find them unsound, let them go, 
whatsoever sorrow this may cost thee. Rest not till 
thou canst give a reason of all thy hopes ; till thou 
canst prove that they are the hopes which grace and 
not nature only hath wrought ; that they are grounded 
upon Scripture promises and Scripture evidences ; that 
they purify thy heart ; that they quicken thy endea- 
vours in godliness ; that they make thee set lighter by 
all things on earth, because thou hast such hopes of 
higher possessions ; that thou art willing to have them 
tried, and fearful of being deceived : if thou be sure 
that thy hopes are such as these, God forbid that I 
should speak a word against them, or discourage thee 
from proceeding to hope thus to the end. No, I would 
rather persuade thee to go on in the strength of the 
Lord ; and whatever men or devils, or thy own unbe- 
lieving heart shall say against it, go on, and hold fast 
thy confidence, and be sure thy hope shall never make 
thee ashamed. But if thy hope be not of this spiritual 
nature, and if thou art able to give no good reason 
why thou hopest, and hast not one sound evidence 
of a saving work of grace upon thy soul, delay not 
an hour ; but presently cast away these hopes, that 
thou mayest get into a capacity of having better in 
their stead. 

III. With this loss of heaven, they will lose all that 
false peace of conscience, which makes their present 
life comparatively easy. The loss of this must neces > 



96 THE MISERY OF TH08E WHO 

sarily follow the Loss o\' theii false hopes of heaven. 
When presumption is gone, peace cannot tarry. Who 
thai now sees how quietly the multitude of the un- 
godly live, would think that they must very shortly lie 
down in everlasting flames ? They lie down, sleep, and 
quietly, they eat and drink' as heartily, they go 
about their work" as cheerfully, they talk as pleasantly, 
as if nothing ailed them, or as if they were as far from 
danger as an obedient believer. " As in the days of 
Noah, they were eating and drinking, and marrying. 
and giving in marriage, till the day that Noah entered 
into the ark, and knew not till the flood came, and 
took them all away," so will the coming of Christ, 
and so will the coming of their particular judgment 
be ; " for when they shall say, Peace and safety, then 
sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon 
a woman with child, and they shall not escape." O 
cruel peace, which ends in such a war ! Reader, if 
this he thy own case ; if thou hast no other peace in 
thy conscience than this ungrounded, self-created 
peace, I beseech thee to cast it from thee. As I would 
not have any humble gracious soul to vex his con- 
science needlessly, or to disquiet and discompose his 
spirits by trouble of his own making, or to unfit him- 
self for duty, or to interrupt his comfortable commu- 
nion witli God, so would I not have a miserable sinner, 
who lives in daily and hourly danger of dropping into 
hell, to be as quiet and cheerful as if all were well 
with him. It is both unseemly and unsafe ; more un- 
seemly than to see a man go laughing to the gallows, 
and more unsafe than to be making merry when the 
enemy is entering our habitations. Men's first peace 
is usually a false peace ; it is a second peace which is 
brought into the soul upon the casting out of the first, 
that will stand good. By nature, the soul of every 
man is Satan's garrison; all is at peace with such a 
man. till Christ comes. When Christ storms his heart, 
lie breaks the peace; lie gives it terrible alarms of 
judgment and hell ; he hatters it with the ordnance of 
his threateningS and terrors; he sets all in a comhus- 
tion of fear and sorrow, till he forces it to yield to his 



LOSE THE HEAVENLY REST. 97 

grace and mercy, and take him for flie governor, and 
Satan is cast out ; and then he establishes a firm and 
lasting peace. If, therefore, thou art yet but in that 

first peace, and thy heart was never yet either taken 
by storm, or delivered up freely to Jesus Christ, never 
think that thy peace will endure. Can the soul have 
peace which is at enmity with Christ, which thinks 
his government too severe, and his conditions too 
hard? What peace can there be, till thou hast cast 
away thy wickedness, and made thy peace with God 
through Christ? Read what God himself saith, 
" There is no peace to the wicked." And hath he 
said it ; and shall it not stand ? Sinner, though thou 
mayst now harden and fortify thy heart against fear, 
and grief, and trouble, yet as God is true, they will 
batter down thy proud and fortified spirit, and seize 
upon it, and drive thee to amazement. 

IV. With their loss of heaven, they will lose all 
their carnal mirth. They will themselves say, as 
Solomon does, of their laughter, « It is mad ;" and of 
their mirth, " What doeth it ?" Their witty jests will 
then be ended, and their merry tales all told. " Their 
mirth was but as the crackling of thorns under a pot." 
It made a great blaze and unseemly noise for a little 
while, but it was presently gone, and will return no 
more. They scorned to entertain any serious thoughts ; 
to talk of death and judgment was irksome to them, 
because it damped their mirth ; they could not endure 
to think of their sin or danger, because these thoughts 
did sadden their spirits. They knew not what it was 
to weep for sin, or to humble themselves under the 
mighty hand of God. They could laugh away 
sorrow, and sing away cares, and drive away melan- 
choly thoughts. They thought, if they should medi- 
tate, and pray, and mourn, as the godly do, their lives 
would be a continual misery, and it would be enough 
to make them run mad. Alas, poor souls, what a 
misery then will that life be, where you shall have 
nothing but sorrow, intense, heart-piercing, multiplied 
sorrow ; where you shall have neither the joys of the 
saints, nor your own former joys? Do you think 

9 



98 TTTE MISERY OF THOSE WHO 

there is one merry heart in hell, or one joyful counte- 
nance, or jesting tongue? You now cry, "A little 
mirth is worth much sorrow ;" but surely a little godly 
sorrow, which would have ended in eternal joy, had 
been of more worth than a great deal of your foolish 
mirth, which will end in eternal sorrow. 

V. They will lose all their sensual pleasures and 
delights. That which they esteemed their chief good, 
their heaven, their god, that they must lose as well as 
heaven and God himself. They shall then, in spite 
of themselves, fulfil that command, which here they 
would not be persuaded to obey, — " Make no provi- 
sion for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." ! what 
a fall will the proud ambitious man have from the top 
of his honours! As his dust and bones will not be 
known from the dust and bones of the poorest beggars, 
so neither will his soul be honoured or favoured any 
more than theirs. How many of the great, and rich, 
and noble, and learned, will be for ever shut out from 
the presence of Christ ! " Not many wise men after 
the flesh," says Paul, " not many mighty, not many 
noble are called ;" and if they be not called, neither 
will they be glorified. They shall be shut out of 
their magnificent and sumptuous buildings, their 
elegant chambers, with their costly hangings, their 
downy beds, and easy couches. They shall no longer 
enjoy their spacious walks, their curious gardens, 
adorned with rich variety of beauteous fruits and 
flowers; their rich pastures, and pleasant meadows, 
and plenteous harvests, and flocks and herds. Their 
tables will no longer be spread and furnished with 
variety of tempting dishes, to please their appetites to 
the full. The rich man there fares not deliciously, 
neither shall he wear his purple and fine linen. The 
gorgeous well-drest gallants, shall then be in quite a 
different izarb. Surely our voluptuous youths must 
leave behind them their cards and dice, their theatres 
and halls, and all their former pleasant sports; — they 
shall then spend their time, not in such pastimes as 
these, but in more sad employment. Oh ! the doleful 
meeting that lustful wantons will have with each 



LO£E THE HEAVENLY REST. 99 

other in hell ! There they will have do more comfort 
in each other's company, than lewd companions have 
in being hanged together on the same gallows. How 

will it even cut them to the heart, to look each other 
in the face, and remember the sensual pleasures for 
which they now must pay so dear! What direful 
greeting will there then be ! What cursing the day 
that ever they saw the faces of one another, remem- 
bering all their lewdness, to the aggravation of their 
torment ! that sinners would consider this in the 
midst of their jollity and pleasure. Who would spend 
so many days and years, and be at so much cost and 
pains, and all to please the flesh for a moment, and, in 
the mean time, neglect their precious souls, and that 
state in which they must exist for ever ? Who would 
be at such pains for that pleasure which dies in the 
enjoying, and is gone almost as soon as come; and 
when we have most need of comfort, will be so far 
from following us as our happiness, that it will be 
perpetual fuel to the flames which shall torment us ? 



SECTION IV. 

The Greatness of the Torments of the Damned in 

Hell. 

Having thus showed you how great their loss is, who 
are excluded from the heavenly rest, and how it will 
be aggravated by those additional losses which will 
accompany it, I shall next show you the greatness of 
those positive sufferings which they will have to 
endure. That there are, besides the loss of happiness, 
actual sensible torments for the damned, is a matter 
beyond all doubt ; and that they will be exceedingly 
great, will appear by the following arguments. 

I. The principal author of them is God himself. 
As it was no less than God whom the sinner hdd 
offended, so it is no less than God who will punish 
them for their offences. He has prepared torments 
foj his enemies. The breath of his indignation will 



100 THE MISERY OF THOSE JVIIO 

kindle the flames. His continued anger will be ever 
devouring them. 0! if it were but a creature with 
whom they had to do, they might hear it; for the 
penalty would correspond with the infirmity of him 
thai inflicted it. Hut woe to them that fall under the 
strokes of the Almighty ! They shall feel to their 
sorrow, that " it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands 
of the living God." It were nothing in comparison 
of this, if all the world were against them, or if the 
strength of all the creatures were united to inflict the 
penalty. They had now rather venture on the dis- 
pleasure of God, than displease a landlord, a master, 
a friend, a neighbour, or their own flesh ; but then 
they will wish a thousand times in vain, that they had 
lost the favour of all the world, and been hated of all 
men, provided they had not lost the favour of God ; 
for as there is no life like his favour, so there is no 
death like his displeasure. what a consuming fire 
is his wrath ! If it be kindled here, and that but a 
little, how do we wither before it, " as the grass that 
is cut down before the sun !" How soon does our 
strength turn to weakness, and our beauty to deform- 
ity ! Churches are rooted up, commonwealths are 
overthrown, kingdoms depopulated, armies destroyed. 
Who, in short, can stand before his indignation ? 
Even the "heavens and the earth will melt at his 
presence ;" and when he speaks the word, at the great 
day of account, they will be burnt up before him as a 
scroll in the fire. The flames do not so easily run 
through the dry stubble, as the wrath of God will feed 
upon poor sinners. ! they that could not bear a 
prison, or a gibbet, or fire for Christ, — no, nor scarcely 
even a few taunts from the mouths of the ignorant, — 
how will they now bear the devouring fire of his 
anger ! 

II. The state of torment is purposely ordained for 
the glorifying of the attribute of God's justice. The 
glorifying of the two great attributes of mercy and 
justice, is intended most eminently for the life to come. 
When God will then purposely glorify his mercy, he 
will do it in a way that is now incredible, and beyond 



LOSE THE HEAVENLY JIEST. 101 

the comprehension of the saints who will enjoy it; so 
also, when be shall then purposely manifest his justice, 
it will appeal indeed to be the justice of God. The 
everlasting flames of hell will not be thought too hot 
for rebellious sinners. Oh, woe to the soul that is thus 
set up as a mark, for the wrath of the Almighty to 
shoot at ; and as a hush that must burn in the llames 
of his jealousy, yet never be consumed ! 

111. The torments of the damned must needs be 
extreme, because they are the effect of Divine ven- 
geance. Then will he be avenged for every mercy 
abused, for his creatures consumed in luxury and 
excess, for every hour of mis-spent time, for the ne- 
glect of his word, for the profanation of his ordinances, 
and the neglect of his worship, for the breaking of his 
Sabbaths, and the grieving of his Spirit, for the taking 
of his name in vain, for unmerciful neglect of his 
servants in distress. 

What a doleful case will the wretched creature be in, 
when he shall thus set the heart of his Creator against 
him; when "he that made him will not have mercy 
on him ; and he that formed him will show him no 
favour." How overwhelming a threatening is that in 
the Book of Proverbs, " Because I have called, and 
ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man 
regarded ; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, 
and would none of my reproof, I also will laugh at 
your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh ; 
when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruc- 
tion cometh as a whirlwind ; when distress and an- 
guish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon 
me, but I will not answer ; they shall seek me early, 
but they shall not find me ; for that they hated know- 
ledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord : they 
would none of my counsel, they despised all my re- 
proof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their 
own way, and be filled with their own devices." Oh ! 
will it not be a terrible thing to wretched souls when 
they shall cry out for mercy, yea, for one drop of 
water, and God shall mock them instead of relieving 
them ? I know when the Scripture speaks of God's 

9* 



102 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO 

laughing and mocking, it is not to be understood lite- 
rally, but alter the manner of men ; yet this may show 
us, that it will be such an act of God, which he can- 
not more fitly conceive or express under any other 
notion or name than these, and thus it shows us the 
extreme severity of the sinner's misery. 

IV. Consider who shall be God's executioners of 
their torment. First, Satan. He that was here sc 
successful in drawing them from Christ, will then be 
the instrument of punishing them, for yielding to his 
temptations. It was a fearful sight to see the man 
possessed, who was bound with chains, and lived 
among the tombs ; but, alas ! that was nothing in com- 
parison with the torment to which Satan will subject 
sinners in hell, as the reward he will give them for all 
their service ; for rejecting the commands of God, for- 
saking Christ, and neglecting their souls at his per- 
suasion. Ah ! if they had served Christ as faithfully 
as they did Satan, and had forsaken all for love to 
him, he would have given them a better reward. 
Secondly, It is most just also, that they should there 
be their own tormentors, that they may see that their 
whole destruction is of themselves ; that they who 
were wilfully the meritorious cause, should also be an 
efficient cause of their own sufferings ; and then whom 
can they complain of but themselves ? They will be 
no more able to cease their self-tormenting, than men 
that we see in a deep melancholy, who will by no 
arguments be diverted from their sorrows. 

V. Consider that their torment will be universal, 
not in one part only, but as all have joined in the sin, 
so must all partake of the pmiishment. The soul, as 
it was the chief in sinning, shall also be the chief in 
suffering ; and as it is of a more spiritual and excel- 
lent nature than the body, so will its torments far ex- 
ceed our present bodily sufferings. And as the joys 
of the soul do far surpass all sensual pleasures, so will 
the pains of the soul surpass all corporeal pains. 

Besides, it is not only a soul, but a sinful soul that 
must suiter. The guilt which remains upon it, will 
make it lit for the wrath of God to work upon. Fire 



LOSE THE HEAVENLY REST. 103 

will not burn, except the fuel be combustible ; but if 
the wood be dry, or if it light upon straw, how fiercely 

will it then burn ! Now, the guilt of his former sins 
will be as fuel to the flames. 

And as the soul, so also must the body bear its part. 
Thai body, which must needs be pleased, whatever 
Become of its eternal safety, shall now pay for all its 
unlawful pleasures. That body which was so tenderly 
cherished, so highly pampered, what must it now en- 
dure ! How are its haughty looks brought down ! 
How little will the flames regard its beauty ! Those 
eyes, which were wont to be delighted with curious 
sights, and to feed themselves upon beauteous objects, 
shall then see nothing but what will amaze and terrify 
them ; — above them an angry, sin-avenging God, and 
those saints whom they scorned, enjoying the glory 
which they have lost ; and around them will be only 
devils and damned souls. Those ears which used to 
be delighted with music, shall hear the shrieks and 
cries of their lost companions ; children crying out 
against their parents, that set them an example of evil, 
but did not teach them the fear of the Lord ; husbands 
crying out against their wives, and wives against their 
husbands ; masters and servants, ministers and people, 
magistrates and subjects, mutually charging their mis- 
ery upon each other, for discouraging in duty, con- 
niving at sin, and being silent and formal, when they 
should have plainly warned one another of their 
misery and danger. Thus will soul and body be com- 
panions in woe. 

VI. Consider that in the midst of their torments they 
will have no comfort left to help to mitigate them. In 
this world, when conscience began to trouble their 
peace, they had comforts enough at hand to relieve 
them. Their carnal friends were all ready to speak 
comfort to them, and promise them that all would at 
last be well with them; but now they have not a 
word of comfort either for them or themselves. For- 
merly they had their business, their company, their 
mirth, to drive away their fears ; they could drink 
away their sorrows, or play them away, or sleep them 



104 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO 

away, or at least, time did wear them away, but now 
all these remedies are vanished. They had a hard 
presumptuous, unbelieving heart, which was a wall to 

defend them against trouble of mind; but now their 
experience has banished it, and left them naked and 
exposed to the fury of the ilames. Yea, formerly 
Satan himself was their comforter, and would unsay 
all that the minister or the Bible said against them* 
As he said to our first mother, " Ye shall not surely 
die/' so doth he now say, " God is merciful. Who 
would lose his present pleasures for fear of that which 
he never saw ? Or if there be a hell, why should you 
fear it ? Are not you Christians, and shall you not be 
saved by Christ ? Was not his blood shed for you ?" 
Thus, as the Spirit of Christ is the comforter of the 
saints, so Satan is the comforter of the wicked ; for he 
knows if doubts or fears should begin to trouble them, 
they would bethink themselves of their danger, and 
so escape it. Never was a thief more careful lest he 
should awake the inmates when he is robbing a house, 
than Satan is not to awaken a sinner. But when sin- 
ners are dead, and he has caught his prey, and his 
stratagem has taken effect, then he has done flattering 
and comforting them. While the sight of sin and 
misery might have helped to save them, he took all 
the pains he could to conceal it from their eyes ; but 
when it is too late, and no hope is left, he will make 
them see and feel it to the utmost. Oh, which way 
will the poor forlorn sinner then look for comfort ? 
They that drew him into the snare, and promised him 
safety, do now forsake him, and are forsaken them- 
selves. 

VII. But the great aggravation of this misery will 
be its eternity. When a thousand millions of ages 
are past, their torments will be as fresh as the day 
they began. If there were any hope of an end of 
their punishment, it would ease them to foresee it ; 
but when they know it must last forever, that thought 
is intolerable ; — much more will the misery itself be, 
0. what happy men would they think themselves, if 
they might have lain still in their graves ! How 



LOSE THE HEAVENLY REST. 105 

ready will they be to cry, " 0, that I might but there 
lie clown again ! What a mercy would it now be to 
die! O, death, whither art thou now gone? Now 
Come and cut off this doleful Hie ! O, that these pains 
would break my heart, and end my existence! Alas! 
that 1 ever had a being !" Such groans will the 
thoughts of eternity wring from their hearts. O, what 
a difference is there between the length of their plea- 
sures and of their pains ! The one continued but a 
moment, the other will endure through eternity. Oh, 
that sinners would lay this to heart ! Remember 
how time is almost gone. Thou art standing all 
this while at the door of eternity, and death is waiting 
to open the door, and usher thee in. Soon thy days 
and nights shall end ; thy thoughts and cares, thy plea- 
sures and pains, shall all be swallowed up by eternity ; 
thou shalt enter on that state which shall never be 
changed. As the joys of heaven are beyond our con- 
ception, so also are the pains of hell. Everlasting 
torment is inconceivable torment. 

But some perhaps will say, " I will never believe 
that God will thus torment his creatures. What ! to 
delight in their torture, and that for everlasting ages, 
and all this for the faults of a short time ! It is incre- 
dible. How can this consist with the infinity of his 
mercy ? I would not thus torment the worst enemy 
I have in the world, and yet my mercifulness is no- 
thing to God's." 

I do not, indeed, wonder that thou art loath to be- 
lieve such terrible tidings to thy soul, which, if they 
were believed and apprehended by thee according to 
their weight, would set thee trembling, day and night, 
in the anguish of horror. But tell me, Dost thou be- 
lieve the Scripture to be the word of God? And 
darest thou give the lie to the God of heaven, and 
accuse him of speaking that which shall not come to 
pass, and that in such absolute threats and plain ex 
pressions ? But if thou darest not stand to this, but 
dost believe Scripture both to be the word of God and 
to be true, then I shall presently convince thee of the 
reality of these eternal torments. Wilt thou believe 



106 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO 

if an apostle should tell thee? Why hear what Jude 
says. He speaks of the "vengeance of eternal fire, 
and the blackness of darkness forever/' Or wilt thou 
believe, if thou have it from an apostle that had been 
wrapt up in revelations into the third heaven, and 
saw things unutterable ? Why, take it then from 
Paul: " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from hea- 
ven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking 
vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey 
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be 
punished with everlasting destruction from the pre- 
sence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. " 
And, again, " That they all might be damned who 
believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteous- 
ness." Or wilt thou believe it on the testimony of 
the beloved apostle who saw it in vision ? Why, he 
tells us, " They shall drink of the wine of the wrath 
of God, which is poured out without mixture into the 
cup of his indignation ; and they shall be tormented 
with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy 
angels, and in the presence of the Lamb ; and they 
have no rest day nor night ; and the smoke of their 
torment ascendeth up for ever and ever." Or, wilt 
thou believe it from the mouth of Christ, himself the 
Judge ? Why, then, he says, " As, therefore, the tares 
are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in 
the end of this world : The Son of Man shall send 
forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his king- 
dom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, 
and shall cast them into a furnace of fire : there shall 
be wailing and gnashing of teeth." In other places 
he speaks of being "cast into hell, into the fire that 
never shall be quenched, — where the worm diethnot, 
and the fire is not quenched." And, in giving an ac- 
count of the last judgment, he says, "Then shall the 
King say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me 
ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil 
and his angels : And these shall go away into ever- 
last ing punishment, but the righteous into life eter- 
nal."' 

What say est thou to all this? If thou wilt not be- 



LOSE THE HEAVENLY REST. K)7 

lievo Christ and his apostles, I know not whom thou 
-wilt believe. Only let me toll thee, the time is at hand 
when thou wilt easily believe, and that without any 
tching or arguing. When thou seest the great 
and terrible day, and hearest the condemning sentence 
passed, and art thyself thrust down to hell, then thou 
wilt believe, and never doubt again. Surely the devil, 
who dissuades thee from believing, does himself "be- 
lieve and tremble." 

And whereas thou thinkest that God is more merci- 
ful than to punish sinners so, why surely he knows 
best the extent of his own mercifulness. His mercy 
will not cross his truth. Cannot God be infinite in 
mercy, unless he save the wilful and rebellious? Is 
a judge unmerciful for condemning malefactors? 
Mercy and justice have their several objects. Thou- 
sands of humble, believing, obedient souls shall know 
to their eternal comfort, that God is merciful, though 
the refusers of his grace shall lie under his justice. 
God will then force thy conscience to confess it in hell, 
that he who condemned thee was yet merciful to 
thee. Was it no mercy to make thee a reasonable 
creature, and to endure thy many years' provocations, 
and to wait upon thee, desiring and entreating thy re- 
pentance and return ? Was it no mercy to have the 
Son of God, with all his blood and merits freely offered 
to thee, if thou wouldst but accept him to govern and 
to save thee ? Nay, when thou hadst neglected and 
refused Christ, not once, or twice only, but hundreds 
of times, that God should yet follow thee with invita- 
tions from day to day? Wilt thou wilfully refuse 
mercy to thy last hour, and then cry out that God will 
not be so unmerciful as to condemn thee ? Thy con- 
science will smite thee for thy madness, and tell thee, 
that God was merciful in all this, though such as thou 
do perish for their impenitence and unbelief. Yea, the 
sense of the greatness of his mercy will then perhaps 
be a great part of thy torment. 

And whereas thou thinkest the pain to be greater 
than the offence, that is, because thou art not a com- 
petent judge. Thou kno west what pain is, but thou 



108 Tin: MISERY of those who 

knowesl not the thousandth part of the evil of sin. 
Shall not the righteous Judge of the world do justly ? 
Nay, it is no more than thou thyself didst choose. 
Did not God set before thee life and death; and tell 

thee, if thou wouldst accept of Christ, and renounce 
thy lusts, thou shouldst then have eternal life; and if 
thou wouldst not have Christ, but the world or the 
flesh to rule over thee, thou shouldst then endure eter- 
nal torments ? Did not he offer thee thy choice; yea, 
and entreat thee to choose aright? And dost thou 
now cry out of severity, "when thou hast but the con- 
sequence of thy own wilful choice ? But it is not thy 
accusing God of severity that will serve thy turn. In- 
stead of procuring thy escape, or the mitigation of thy 
torments, this will but make thy burden the more 
heavy. 

And whereas thou sayest that thou wouldst not so 
torment thy own enemy, I answer, There is no reason 
why thou shouldst ; for is it all one to offend a crawl- 
ing worm of the earth, and to offend the eternal glori- 
ous God ? Thou hast no absolute dominion over 
thine enemy, and there may be some fault in thyself 
as well as in him ; but with God and us the case is 
contrary. 

But methinks I hear the obstinate sinner desperately 
resolving, — " Well, if I must be damned, there is no 
remedy. Rather than live so precisely as the Scrip- 
ture requires, I will put it to the venture : I will escape 
as well as my neighbours, and as the most of the world, 
and we will even bear it as well as we can." Alas ! 
poor creature ! Didst thou but know what it is that 
thou dost so boldly venture on, I dare say, thou 
wouldst sleep this night but very unquietly. Wilt 
thou leave thyself no room for hope? Art thou such 
an implacable enemy to Christ and thy own soul ? 
And dost thou indeed think that thou canst bear the 
wrath of God, and endure so easily eternal torments? 
Yet let me entreat thee, before thou dost pass this 
resolution, to lend me thine attention to a few ques- 
tions, and weigh them with the reason of a man ; and 






LOSE THE HEAVENLY REST. 109 

if then thou dost think that thou canst bear these pains, 
I will give thee over, and say no more. 

1. Who art thou that thou shouldst hear the wrath 
of God ? Art thou a god, or art thou a man ? What 
is thy strength to undergo so much? Is it not as the 
strength of wax to resist the fire, or as chaff to the 
wind, or as the dust before the fierce whirlwind ? Was 
he not as stout a man as thyself, who cried to God, 
u Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro ; and wilt 
thou pursue the dry stubble ?" If thy strength were 
as iron, and thy bones as brass, yet couldst thou not 
bear the wrath of the Almighty. If thy foundation 
were as the earth, and thy power as the heavens, yet 
wouldst thou perish at the breath of his indignation. 

2. If thou art able to wrestle with the indignation 
of the Almighty, why dost thou tremble at the signs 
of his power and wrath ? Art thou not afraid when 
the thunder rolls in thy ears, and the lightnings flash 
in thy eyes, rending in pieces the mighty oaks, and 
tearing down the strongest buildings ? If thou be in a 
place where the plague rages so that it cuts off many 
thousands in a week, does it not astonish thee, to see 
men, who were well a few days before, thrown by 
heaps into the grave ? If thou hadst stood by when 
Pharaoh and his people were so strangely plagued, 
and at last drowned together in the sea ; or when the 
earth swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and 
their companies, and the people fled away at their 
cry, lest the earth should swallow them up also ; or 
when Elijah brought fire from heaven to consume the 
captains and their companies, would not any of these 
sights have daunted thy spirit ? How then wilt thou 
bear the plagues of hell ? 

3. If thou be so strong, and thy heart so stout, as to 
set at nought the wrath of God, why do those trivial 
sufferings which befal thee here so dismay thee ? If 
thou have but a fit of toothache, or of gout, or of the 
stone, what groans dost thou utter ? The house is filled 
with thy complaints. If thou lose but a leg or an 
arm ; if thou lose but a friend ; if thou lose but thine 
estate, and fall into poverty, and beggary, and dis- 

10 



110 THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO 

grace, — how heavily dost thou bear any one of these 
calamities? And yet all these accumulated together, 

will our day be accounted happiness, in comparison 
of the misery which is suffered in hell. Alas! how 
many boasters like thyself have I seen made to stoop 
and retract their words ! When God let out but a 
little of his wrath, that Pharaoh who before asked. 
ft Who is the Lord that I should obey him?" changed 
his tone, and cried, " I have sinned." 

4. If thy stout spirit make so light of hell, why does 
the prospect of death so much affright thee? Didst 
thou never find the thoughts of death fill thy mind 
with fear and dread ? Wast thou never in any dis- 
ease wherein thou didst receive the sentence of death? 
If thou never wast, thou wilt be erelong; and then, 
when thy physician shall tell thee there is no hope, 
Oh, how cold will it strike to thy heart ! Why else is 
death to men the king of terrors ? and why do the 
stoutest champions then abate their courage ? They 
who had the same spirits and language as thou now 
hast, and made as light of all the threatenings of the 
word, yet when they see they are going into another 
world, how pale do they look ! how faintly do they 
speak ! how dolefully do they complain and groan ! 
Oh but the grave would be accounted a palace or a 
paradise, in comparison of that place of torment which 
thou desperately slightest. 

5. If all this be nothing, go try thy strength by 
some corporal torment. As Bilney, before he went to 
the stake, would first try his finger in the candle, so 
do thou. Hold thy finger awhile in the fire, and see 
whether thou canst endure the fire of hell. If it be an 
intolerable thing to suffer the heat of the fire for a 
year, or a day, or an hour, what will it be to suffer 
ten thousand times more for ever in hell ? If thou 
canst not endure such things as these, how wilt thou 
endure the eternal flames? 

(>. If thou he so fearless of eternal misery, why is 
the least foretaste of it so terrible ? Didst thou never 
feel such a thing as a tormenting conscience? Didst 
thou never see and speak with a man who was 



LOSE THE HEAVENLY REST. Ill 

wounded in his spirit, and was near despair? How 
burdensome was life ! The sight of friends, oi house, 
or estate, which refreshes others, is a trouble to them : 
they feel no sweetness in meal or drink; they are at 

ontv weary of life, and fearful of death. Now, what 
is the matter with those men? If the misery of the 
damned itself can be endured, why cannot they endure 
those little sparks of divine wrath? 

Lastly, Let me ask thee, if the wrath of God is to 
be made so light of as thou dost, why did the Son of 
God himself make so great a matter of it ? When he, 
who was perfectly* innocent, had taken upon him the 
payment of our debt, and stood in our room, and bore 
that punishment which we deserved, it made him 
sweat " great drops of blood :" it made him, who is 
the Lord of life, cry out, " My soul is exceeding sor- 
rowful, even unto death :" it made him exclaim upon 
the cross, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
me ?" Surely, if any one could have borne these suf- 
ferings, it was Jesus Christ. He had a higher mea- 
sure of strength to bear them than thou hast. Do you 
think to find that tolerable to you, which was so ter- 
rible to Christ ? 

Thus I have shown you somewhat of their misery, 
who lose the rest prepared for the saints. And now, 
O sinner, I demand thy resolution. What use wilt 
thou make of all this ? Shall it be all lost upon thee ? 
Or wilt thou consider it in good earnest ? Thou hast 
cast by many a warning from God, wilt thou do so 
by this also ? Take heed what thou doest, and how 
thou so resolvest. God will not always stand warning 
and threatening. The hand of vengeance is lifted up, 
the blow is coming, and woe to him, whoever he be, 
on whom it falls. Little thinkest thou how near thou 
standest to thy eternal state, and how near thou art 
to the pit of hell. Wilt thou throw by the book, and 
say, " It speaks of nothing but hell and damnation ?" 
Thus thou usest also to complain of the faithful minis- 
ter ; but wouldst thou not nave us tell thee of these 
things ? Wouldst thou have us be guilty of the blood 
of thy soul, by keeping silent as to that which God 



112 THE MISERY OF THE LOST. 

lias charged us upon pain of death to make known? 
Wouldst thou perish in case and quietness, and have 
us to perish with thee, rather than to awake thee, or 
displease thee, by speaking the truth? Are these 
things true, or are they not ? If they were not true, I 
would heartily join with you against any minister 
who should offer to preach them, and to frighten poor 
>ple when there is no cause. .But if every word 
of these threatenings he die word of God, and if they 
be as true as thou livest and readest this, how great 
the folly that would not hear them and consider 
them ! Is not this doctrine fit for thee to hear? In- 
(\rc(\ % if thou wert past hope of escaping it, then it 
were vain to tell thee of hell; it niiirht be better to let 
thee enjoy a few cheerful hours whilst thou mayest ; 
but as long as thou art on this side of the grave, there 
is hope of thy recovery, and therefore all means must 
be used to awake thee from thy lethargy. Oh, that 
some Jonah would cry in your ears, " Yet a few days, 
and rebellious sinners shall be destroyed;" till you 
were brought to fall down on your knees in sackcloth 
and in ashes ! Oh, that some John the Baptist would 
make proclamation, " Now is the axe laid to the root 
of the tree; every tree that bringeth not forth good 
fruit, shall be hewn down, and cast into the fire !" 
Oh, that some son of thunder, who could speak as 
Paul, till the hearers tremble, were now to warn you 
to flee from the wrath to come ! Alas ! as terribly as 
you think I speak, yet it is not the thousandth part of 
what thou must feel, if thou remain unconverted; for 
what heart can conceive, or what tongue can utter 
the agonies of those souls that are under the wrath of 
Ood? 



NEGLECT OF THE HEAVENLY REST. 113 



CHAPTER II. 

li I f Rl H BITS I NG THE GENERAL NEGLECT OF THE 
HEAVENLY HJBSTj AND EXCITING TO DILIGENCE IN 
BE EKING IT. 

SECTION I. 

Reprehension of different Classes for their Neglect 
of the Heavenly Rest. 

I come now to the second use, which I shall make of 
this doctrine of iest. If there be so glorious a rest for 
the saints, why is there no more earnest seeking after 
it in the world ? One would think that a man who 
but once heard of such unspeakable glory, and believed 
what he heard to be true, would be transported with 
the vehemency of his desires after it, and would almost 
forget to eat or drink, and would care for nothing 
else, and speak of and inquire after nothing else, 
but how to get assurance and possession of this trea- 
sure ! And yet people who hear of it daily, and pro-, 
fess to believe it as a fundamental article of their creed, 
do as little mind it, or care or labour for it, and as 
much forget and disregard it, as if they had never 
heard of any such thing, or did not believe one word 
that they hear. I shall apply this more particularly to 
the reproof of four sorts of men. 

I. This subject reproves worldly-minded men, who 
are so taken up in seeking the things below, that they 
have neither heart nor time to seek this rest. May I 
not well say to them,' as Paul to the Galatians in an- 
other case, " Foolish sinners ! who hath bewitched 
you?" Would not any man wonder, who has the 
spiritual use of reason, to see what insatiable pursuit 
of fleshly pleasures there is among men, whilst they 
look upon the praises of God, which is the joy of an- 
gels, as a tiresome burden ! What unwearied diligence 

10* 



114 GENERAL NEGLECT OF 

is there in raising their posterity, in enlarging their 
possessions, in gathering a little silver or gold, while 
in the meantime their judgment is drawing near; and 
yet how ii shall L r o with them then, or how they shall 
live eternally, never puts them to the trouhle of an 
hour's serious consideration ! What is the excellency 
of this earth, that it has so many suitors and admirers? 
What has it done for its lovers and friends, that it is 
so eagerly followed, and painfully sought after, while 
Christ and heaven stand by, and few regard them? 
Or, what will the world do for them for the time to 
ro u 10 ? The common entrance into it, is through an- 
guish and sorrow. The journey through it, is with 
continual care, and Labour, and grief. The passage 
out of it. is with the greatest sharpness and sadness 
of all. What, then, causes men so much to follow it ? 
sinful, unreasonable, bewitched men! Will mirth 
and pleasure stick close to you? Will gold and 
worldly glory prove fast friends to you in the time of 
your greatest need? Will they hear your cries in the 
day of your calamity ? If a man should cry in the 
hour of death, " Oh, riches, or honour, now help us I" 
will they either answer or relieve you ? Will they go 
along with you to another world, and bribe the judge, 
and bring you off clear, or purchase you a mansion 
among the blessed ? Why, then, did the rich man 
want a drop of water to cool his tongue ? Or, are the 
sweet morsels of present delight and honour, of more 
worth than the eternal rest? And will they recom- 
pense the loss of that enduring treasure ? All, deceit- 
ful world ! how often have we heard thy faithfulest 
servants complaining at last, « Oh, the world has de- 
ceived and undone me ! It flattered me in my pros- 
perity, hnt now it turns me off at death in my neces- 
sity ! All, if I had as faithfully served Christ as I 
have served it, he would not thus have cast me off, 
nor have left me thus comfortless and hopeless in the 
depth of misery !" Thus, do the dearest friends and 
favourites of the world complain at last of its deceit- 
fulness, or rather of their own sell-deluding tolly; and 
yet succeeding sinners will take no warning. 



THE HEAVENLY REST. 115 

II. This subject reproves the profane, ungodly, pre- 
ramptuous multitude, who will pol be persuaded to be 

at so much pains for salvation, as to perform the com- 
mon outward duties of religion. If they have the 
gospel preached in the town where they dwell, it may 
be they will give a hearing to it one part of the day, 
and stay at homo the other. How few are there in a 
whole town who will either be at the cost or pains to 
procure a minister, or travel a few miles to hear 
abroad, though they will go many miles to the mar- 
ket for provisions for their bodies. The king of 
Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with them, and 
shall condemn them, for he repented at the preaching 
of Jonah ; but when Jesus Christ sends his ambassa- 
dors to these men, they will scarcely go to hear them. 

And though they know that the Scripture is the 
law of God, by which they must live, and by which 
they must be acquitted or condemned in judgment; 
and that it is the character of every blessed man to de- 
light in this law, and to " meditate in it day and night," 
yet will they not be at the pains even to read a chap- 
ter once a day, nor to acquaint their families with the 
doctrine of salvation. 

And though they are commanded to " pray without 
ceasing," to " pray always, and not to faint," to "con- 
tinue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanks- 
giving," yet will they not be brought to pray con- 
stantly with their families, or in secret. Or if they do 
any thing this way, it is usually but a running over a 
few formal words, which they have got on their 
tongue's end, as if they came on purpose to make a 
jest of prayer, and to mock God and their own souls. 
If they be in distress, or want any thing for their 
bodies, they want not words to make known their 
minds. Doubtless, if they felt the misery and neces- 
sities of their souls, they would be as forward to beg 
relief of God, in frequent, fervent, importunate, and 
constant prayer. Whereas now they invite God to 
be backward in giving, by their backwardness in 
asking ; and to be weary of relieving them, by their 
being weary of begging ; and to be seldom and short 



116 GENERAL NEGLECT OF 

in his favours, as they are seldom and short in their 
prayers; and to give them but common and outward 
favours, as they put up but common and outward 
requests. Do not these men judge themselves un- 
worthy of heaven, who think it not worth their more 
constant and earnest requests? If it be not worth 
asking, it is worth nothing. And yet if one should 
go from house to house, through town and country, 
and inquire at every house as he went along, whether 
they do, morning and evening, call their family together, 
and earnestly and reverently seek the Lord in prayer, 
— how few would you find that constantly and con- 
scientiously practise this duty ! If every door were 
marked where they do not thus call upon God, that 
his wrath might be poured out upon that family, our 
towns would be as places overthrown by the plague, 
— the people being dead within, and the mark of 
judgment on the door without. I fear where one 
house would escape, there would be ten marked out 
for death. But especially if you could see what men 
do in their secret chambers, how few would you find 
in a whole town, that spend one quarter of an hour, 
morning and night, in earnest supplication to God for 
their souls ! 

III. This subject reproves formal professors of reli- 
gion, who will attend to any outward duty, and take 
up the easier part of Christianity, but to the inward 
work, and more difficult part, they will never be per- 
suaded. They will preach, or hear, or read, or talk 
of heaven, or pray in their families, and take part 
with the persons and causes that are good, and desire 
to be esteemed among the godly ; but you can never 
bring them to the more spiritual and difficult duties, 
as to be frequent and fervent in secret prayer, to be 
conscientious in the duty of self-examination, to be 
constant in the excellent duty of meditation, to be 
heavenly-minded, to watch regularly over their heart, 
and words, and ways, to deny the bodily senses their 
delights, lo mortify the flesh, and to make no provision 
to fulfil the lusts thereof, to love and heartily forgive 
an enemy, to prefer their brethren heartily before 



THE HEAVENLY REST 117 

themselves, to think humbly of their own gifts and 
graces, and to take it well of others that think so too, 
to love them that have low thoughts of them, as well 
as those that have high, to bear easily the injuries or 
undervaluing words of others against them, to lay all 
that they have at the feet of Christ, and to prefer his 
ice and favour before all earthly objects, to pre- 
pare to die, and willingly to leave all, to go to be with 
Christ, which is far better. The outside hypocrites 
will never be persuaded to these duties. Of these 
hypocrites there are two notable sorts. First, The 
superficial opinionative hypocrite. Secondly, The 
worldly hypocrite. 

1. The superficial opinionative hypocrite entertains 
the doctrine of the gospel with complacency, but it 
enters only into the surface of his soul ; he never gives 
the seed any depth of earth. He changes his opinion, 
and thereupon engages for religion, as the right way, 
and sides with it as a party ; but it never melts and 
new moulds his heart, nor sets up Christ there in full 
power and authority ; but as his religion lies chiefly in 
his opinions, so he usually runs from opinion to opinion, 
and is " carried about with every wind of doctrine, by 
the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby 
they lie in wait to deceive ;" for, as his religion is but 
opinion, so is his study, and conference, and chief 
business, all about opinion. You will never hear, in 
private conference, any humble and hearty bewailings 
of his souPs imperfections, or any heart-bleeding ac- 
knowledgments of his unkindnesses to Christ, or any 
pantings and longings after him, from this man ; but 
that he is of such a judgment, or of such a religion, or 
party, or society, or a member of such a church. 
Herein he gathers his greatest comforts ; but of the 
inward and spiritual labours of a Christian, he is igno 
rant. 

2. The worldly hypocrite, who chokes the doctrine 
of the gospel with the thorns of worldly cares and de- 
sires, shows a similar temper. His judgment is con- 
vinced that he must be religious, or he cannot be 
saved ; and therefore he reads, and hears, and prays, 



US GENERAL NEGLECT OF 

and forsakes his former company and courses; but 
because his belief of the gospel doctrine is wavering, 
ne resolves t<> keep his hold of present things, and yet 
to be religious, that so he may have heaven, when he 
can keep the world no longer, thinking it wisdom to 
have two strings to his bow, lest one should break. 
His judgment may say, God is the chief good, but his 
heart and affections never said so ; these look upon 
God as a kind of strange and disproportionate happi- 
ness, to be tolerated rather than the flames of hell, but 
not desired before the felicity of earth. In a word, the 
world has more of his affections than God, and there- 
fore is his god ; his covetousness is idolatry. This he 
might easily know and feel, if he would judge impar- 
tially, and were but faithful to himself. how faint 
is he in secret prayer ! how superficial in self-exami- 
nation and meditation ! how feeble in heart-watchings, 
and humbling, mortifying endeavours ! how cold and 
careless in loving and walking with God, rejoicing in 
him, or desiring after him ! 

IV. This subject reproves even the godly themselves, 
for being too indolent in seeking their everlasting rest. 
Alas ! what a disproportion is there between our 
light and our heat, our professions and our practice ! 
Who makes that haste, as if it were for heaven ! How 
still we stand ! How idly we work ! How we talk, 
and jest, and trifle away our time ! How deceitfully 
we do the work of God ! How we hear as if we 
heard not ; and pray, as if we prayed not ; and confer, 
and examine, and meditate, and reprove sin, as if we 
did it not ; and use the ordinances, as if we used therri 
not ; and enjoy' Christ, as if we enjoyed him not ! Who 
that stood by us, and heard us pray in public or pri- 
vate, would think that we were praying for no less 
than everlasting glory ! Should heaven be sought no 
more earnestly than this ? Methinks there is none of us 
all in good earnest for our souls : we do but trifle Avith 
the work of God, and with Christ. We are dying, 
and yet we consider it not ; we are at the door of eter- 
nal happiness or misery, and yet we perceive it not. 
Death knocks, and we hear not: Christ calls, and we 



THE HE A V I N LT ■ I ST. 119 

tear not; God cries to us, u Tcwiay, if ya will bear 

harden not your hearts : Work while it is 

day, for die night cometb when do man can work. 

- labour for yoxa lives, now lay out all your 
strength and time," and yet we stir no more than if 

were half asleep. What haste do death and judg- 
ment make ! How last do they come on ! The spur 
ni Grod is in our side; we bleed, we groan, and yet 

mend not our pare. The rod of God is on our 
. it speaks to the quirk, and yet we stir no faster 
than before. Lord, what a senseless, sottish, earthly 
thing is a hard heart ! Where is the man that is seri- 
ous in his Christianity ? Methinks men do every 
■where make but a triiie of their eternal state. 

Do the magistrates among us seriously perform 
their portion of the work? Are they zealous for 
God ? Do they build up his house ? Are they tender 
of his honour ? Do they study how to do the utmost 
they can for God, improve their power, wealth, and 
honour, for the greatest advantage to the kingdom of 
Christ, as men that must shortly give an account of 
their stewardship ? Or do they build their own houses, 
and seek their own advancement, and contest for 
their own honours, and do no more for Christ than con- 
sists with their worldly interest ! 

And how few are those ministers who are entirely 
devoted to their work ! Nay, how mightily, in this 
respect, do the very best fail ! Do we cry out against 
men's disobedience to the gospel, in the evidence and 
power of the Spirit, and by force pull them out of this 
lire ? Do we persuade our people as those should do 
that know the terrors of the Lord ? Do we press 
Christ, and regeneration, and faith, and holiness, as 
men that indeed believe that without these they shall 
never see life ? Do our bowels yearn over the igno- 
rant, the careless, the obstinate, the unbelieving multi 
tude, when we think they must be eternally damned, 
if they be not seasonably recovered ? When we look 
our dear people in the faces, do our hearts melt over 
them ; do we, like Paul, tell them, even weeping, of 
their fleshly and earthly dispositions ; and teach them 



120 GENERAL NEGLECT OF 

publicly, and from house to house, night and day 
with tears? And do we entreat them, as if it were 
indeed for their lues and salvation, that when we speak 
of the joys and miseries of another world, they may see 
us aiFected accordingly, and perceive that we do in 
deed mean as we speak ? Or rather, do we not study 
words and neat expressions, that we may approve 
ourselves able men in the judgment of critical hearers; 
and speak so formally and heartlessly of eternity, that 
our people can scarcely think that we believe our- 
selves ? Seldom do we adapt our sermons, either in 
matter or manner to the great end, — our people's sal- 
vation ; but we sacrifice our studies to our own credit, 
or our people's content, or some such base inferior 
end. How gently do we handle those sins which will 
handle so cruelly our people's souls ! How tenderly 
do we deal with their careless hearts, not speaking to 
them as to men that must be awakened or damned ! 
We tell them of heaven and hell in such a sleepy 
tone, and slight way, that Ave often preach our people 
asleep with those truths which one would think would 
rather endanger the driving of some beside themselves, 
if they were faithfully delivered. 

And are the people any way more serious than mag- 
istrates and ministers ? How can it be expected ! 
Reader, look but to thyself, and resolve the question. 
Ask thy conscience, and suffer it to tell the truth, 
Hast thou set eternal rest before thine eyes, as the 
great business which thou hast to attend to in this 
world ? Hast thou studied, and cared, and watched, 
and laboured, lest any should take thy crown ? Hast 
thou made haste lest thou shouldst come too late, and 
die before the work be done ? Hast thou pressed on, 
through crowds of opposition, "toward the mark for 
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, 
forgetting the things which are behind, and reaching 
forth unto those things which are before ?" When you 
have set your hand to the work of God, have you 
done it with all your might ? Can conscience witness 
your secret cries, and groans, and tears ? Can your 
families witness that you have taught them the fear 



THE HKAVKNLV REST. 121 

of the Lord, and warned them with all earnestness 
and unweariedness to remember God and their souls, 
and to provide for everlasting life? Can your minis- 
witness thai they have heard you cry out, " What 
shall we do to he saved?" and that you have followed 
them with complaints against your corruptions, and 
with earnest inquiries after the Lord? Can your 
neighbours around you witness, that you are always 
oing of them that are able to instruct you; and 
that you plainly and honestly reprove the ungodly, 
and take pains for the saving of their souls? Let all 
these witnesses judge this day between God and you, 
whether you are in good earnest about the things 
which belong to your everlasting peace. 



SECTION II. 

Jin Exhortation to Diligence in Seeking the Hea- 
venly Rest. 

I hope, reader, thou art, by this time, somewhat sen- 
sible what a desperate thing it is to trifle about our 
eternal rest, and how deeply thou hast been guilty of 
this sin. And I hope also, that thou darest not now 
suffer this conviction to die ; but art resolved to be 
another man for the time to come. What sayest thou ? 
Is this thy resolution? If thou wert sick of some 
desperate disease, and the physician should tell thee, 
" If you will observe but one thing, I doubt not to 
cure you," wouldst thou not observe it ? Why, if 
thou wilt observe but this one thing for thy soul, I 
make no doubt of thy salvation. If thou wilt now 
but shake off thy sloth, and employ all thy strength, 
and ply the work of God unweariedly, and be a Chris- 
tian in good earnest, I know not what can hinder thy 
happiness. As far as thou art gone from God, if thou 
wouldst but now return and seek him with all thy 
heart, no doubt but thou shalt find him. And that 
thou mayest see I urge thee not without cause, I will 
here add some considerations to move thee, and to 

11 



128 BXHOBTATIOICS TO DILIGENCE IN 

drive thee frqjp delaying and loitering. To all men 1 
propound them, both godly and ungodly. Whoever 
thou art, therefore, I entreat thee to rouse up thy 
spirit, and read them deliberately, and give me a little 
while thy attention, as to a message from God. "Set 
thy heart to all the words that I testify to thee this day; 
for it is not a vain thing, but it is for thy life." 



PART I. 

I. Our diligence should correspond to the greatness 
of the ends which we have in view. Now the ends 
of a Christian's desires and endeavours are so great, 
that no human understanding on earth can compre- 
hend them ; whether you consider their proper excel- 
lency, their exceeding importance, or their absolute 
necessity. 

These ends are, the glorifying of God, the salvation 
of our own and other men's souls, in our escaping the 
torments of hell, and enjoying the glory of heaven. 
And can a man be too much affected with things of 
such moment ? Can he desire them too earnestly, or 
love them too violently, or labour for them too 
diligently? When we know that if our prayers 
prevail not, and our labour succeeds not, we are un- 
done for ever, I think it concerns us to seek and labour 
to good purpose. When the question is, whether we 
shall live for ever in heaven or in hell ; and when the 
answer must depend upon our obeying or disobeying 
the gospel, upon the painfulness or the slothfulncss of 
our present endeavours, I think it is time for us to 
bestir ourselves. 

II. Our diligence should correspond to the greatness 
of the work which we have to do. Now the works 
of a Christian here are very many and very great. 
The soul must be renewed ; many and great corrup- 
tions must be mortified; custom and worldly interests 
and temptations must be conquered ; flesh must be 
mastered ; self must be denied ; conscience must on 
good grounds be quieted ; assurance of pardon and 



SEEKING THE HEAVENLY REST. 123 

salvation must be attained. And though it is (;<>d 
that must give us these, and that freely without our 
o\ni merit, vet will he not give them without out ear- 
nest Seeking and labour. 

Besides, there is much knowledge to be acquired, for 
the guiding of ourselves, for the defending of the truth, 
and for the direction of others. Many ordinances are 
to be used, and duties performed, ordinary and extra- 
ordinary. Every year, and day, requires a fresh 
succession of duty. Every place we come to, every 
person we have to deal with, every change of our 
condition, requires the renewing of our labour, and 
brings duty along with it. Wives, children, servants, 
neighbours, friends, enemies, — all of them call for duty 
from us ; and all this of great importance too ; so that, 
for the most of it, if we miscarry in it, it will prove 
our undoing. 

Judge, then, whether men, that have so much busi- 
ness upon their hands, should not bestir themselves ; 
and whether it be their wisdom either to delay or to 
loiter. 

III. Our diligence should be quickened, because of 
the shortness and uncertainty of the time allotted us 
for the performance of all this work, and the many 
and great impediments which we meet with. Yet a 
few days, and we shall be here no more. Time passes 
on ; many hundred diseases are ready to assault us. 
We that now are preaching, and hearing, and talking, 
and walking, must very shortly be carried to the grave, 
and laid in the dust, there to become the prey of cor- 
ruption. We are almost there already. It is but a 
few days, or months, or years, and what is that when 
once they are past? We know not whether we 
shall enjoy another sermon, or Sabbath, or hour. 
How then should we bestir ourselves for everlasting 
rest, who know we have so short a space for so great 
a work ! 

Besides, every step in the way has its difficulties ; 
the gate is strait, and the way narrow. The righteous 
themselves are scarcely saved. Stumbling blocks 
and discouragements will never cease to be cast before 



124 EXHORTATION TO DILIGENCE IN 

us ; and can all these be overcome by slothful endea- 
vours ? 

IV. Our diligence should correspond to the diligence 
of our enemies in seeking our destruction. If we sit 
still while they are plotting and labouring, you may 
easily conceive how we are likely to speed. How 
diligent is Satan in all kind of temptations ! There- 
fore, "be sober and vigilant," says Peter, "because 
your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh | 
about, seeking whom he may devour ; whom resist 1 
steadfast in the faith." How diligent are all the 
ministers of Satan in seeking our ruin, and how is our 
inward corruption the most busy and diligent of all ! 
Whatever we are about, it is still resisting us, pervert- 
ing our thoughts, deadening our affections to good, 
and exciting them to evil. And will a feeble resistance 
then serve our turn ? Should not we be more active 
for our own preservation than our enemies are for our 
ruin ? 

V. Our diligence should bear some proportion to 
the talents we have received, and the means we have 
enjoyed. To whom you commit much, from them 
you expect the more. Now the talents we have re- 
ceived are many and great ; the means which we have 
enjoyed are very numerous and very precious. What 
people on earth have had plainer instructions, or more 
forcible persuasions, or more frequent admonitions, in 
season and out of season ? What people have had 
God so near them as we have had ; or have had hea- 
ven and hell, as it were, opened unto them, as we ? 
Scarcely has there been a day wherein we have not 
had some spur to hasten us on. What speed, then, 
should such a people make for heaven ! How should 
they fly that are thus winged ! How swiftly should 
they sail that have wind and tide to help them ! 

VI. Our diligence should bear some proportion to 
the great cost bestowed upon us, and to the many 
mercies which we have received from God. Oh, the 
cost that God has been at for our sakes ! The riches 
of sea and land, of heaven and earth, has he poured 
out upon us. All our lives have been filled up with 






>ki:kin<; tiii: hkavknly kkst. 125 

mercies. We cannot look hark upon one hour of it, 
or one passage in it, but we behold mercy. We l'<'cd 
upon mercy, we are clothed by mercy, mercy within 
us, common and special, mercy without us, for this 
life, and for that which is to come. Oh the rare de- 
liverances that we have partaken of, both national and 
personal ! How oft, how seasonably, how fully have 
our prayers been heard, and our fears removed ! 
What Large catalogues of particular mercies can every 
Christian draw forth and rehearse ! To offer to num- 
ber them, would be as endless a task as to number 
the stars, or the sands on the sea-shore. Oh ! is not a 
loitering performance of a few heartless duties, an un- 
worthy requital of such admirable kindness ? For my 
own part, when I compare my slow and unprofitable 
life, with the frequent and wonderful mercies which I 
have received, it shames me, it silences me, it leaves 
me inexcusable. 

VII. All the relations which we stand in to God, 
whether special or common, call upon us for our ut- 
most diligence. Should not the creature be wholly at 
the service of his great Creator ? Are we his servants, 
and shall we not obey his commands ? Are we his 
children, and shall we not yield him our most tender 
affections, and our dutiful obedience ? " If he be our 
Father, where is his honour ? And if he be our 
Master, where is his fear ?" " We call him Lord and 
Master, and we do well." But if our affections and 
endeavours be not answerable to our assumed rela- 
tions, we condemn ourselves in saying we are his 
children or his servants. 

VIII. What haste should they make who have such 
rods at their backs as are at ours ! And how painfully 
should they work who are driven on by such sharp 
afflictions ! If we either wander out of the way, or 
loiter in it, how surely shall we smart for it ! Every 
creature is ready to be God's rod to spur us on; our 
sweetest mercies will become our sorrows; our dis- 
eased bodies will make us groan ; our perplexed minds 
will make us restless ; our troubled conscience will be 
as a scorpion in our bosom. Thus we make our own 

11* 



126 EXHORTATION TO DILIGENCE IN 

lives miserable, and constrain God, if he love us, to 
chastise us. It is true, those that do most for God, do 
meet with afflictions also ; but surely, according to 
the measure of their diligence and faithfulness, is the 
bitterness of their cup for the most part abated. 

IX. How closely should they ply their work who 
have such attendants as we have ! All the world are 
our servants, that we may be the servants of God. 
The sun and moon and stars attend us with their light 
and influence; the earth, with all its furniture, "its 
many thousand plants, and flowers, and fruits, and 
birds, and beasts, attends us ! The sea, with its inhabi- 
tants, the air, the clouds, the rain, the frost and snow, 
the light and heat, all wait upon us while we do our 
work. Yea, the angels are ministering spirits for the 
service of the heirs of salvation. And is it not an in- 
tolerable crime lor us to trifle, while all these are em- 
ployed to assist us ? Nay more, the patience and 
goodness of God wait upon us ; the Lord Jesus waits 
in the offers of his blood; the Holy Ghost waits, in 
striving with our reluctant hearts. Besides, all his 
servants, the ministers of the gospel, study and preach, 
and pray and wait upon careless sinners. And shall 
angels and men, yea the Lord himself, stand by and 
look on, and offer their aid, whilst thou doest nothing? 
X. Should not our affections and endeavours be 
answerable to the acknowledged principles of our 
Christian profession? Surely, if we are Christians 
indeed, and mean as we speak, when we profess the 
fa nh of Christ, this will show itself in affections and 
endeavours, as well as in expressions. Why, the very 
fundamental doctrines of our religion are,— That God 
is the chief good, and therefore he should be valued 
and sought above all things: That he is our only Lord, 
and therefore he is chiefly to be served : That we must 
love him with all our heart and soul, and mind and 
strength : That the principal business men have in the 
world, is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever. 
And do men's lives correspond with this profession ? 
Are these doctrines seen in the painfulness of their 
daily practice ? Or rather do not their works deny 



SEEKING THE HEAVENLY REST. 127 

what their words confess ? Judging by men's actions, 
one would think they did not believe the gospel to l><3 
true. Oli melancholy day, when men's own tongues 

and professions shall be brought forward to witness 
against them, and to condemn them ! 

\l. How forward and painful should we be in this 
work, in winch we are sure we can never do enough! 
If there were any danger of overdoing, then it might 
well cause men to moderate their endeavours. But 
we know, that if we could do all, we are but "un- 
profitable servants;" much more when we are sure 
fail in all. Though all superstition, or worship of 
our own devising, may be called a righteousness over- 
much ; yet as long as you regulate your service by the 
rule of the word, that so it may have the true nature 
()[ obedience, you need never fear being righteous 
overmuch ; for else we should reproach the Lord and 
Lawgiver of the church, as if he commanded us to do 
too much. Ah ! if the world were not mad, they 
could never think that they who set themselves wholly 
to seek eternal life are righteous overmuch. The time 
is near when they will confess, that God could not 
be loved or served too much, and that no man could 
be too busy in seeking to save his soul. For the pre- 
sent world you may easily do too much, but for the 
world that is to come, while you keep by God's way, 
you can never do too much. 

XII. Consider that they who trifle in the way to 
heaven, will lose all their labour, while serious endea- 
vours would gain their end. Many who, like Agrippa, 
are but almost Christians, will find in the end they are 
but almost saved. Oh, how many professors of Chris- 
tianity will find this true to their sorrow, who have 
had a mind to the ways of God, and have kept up a 
dull task of duty, and plodded on in a formal lifeless 
profession, but who never came up to serious Christi- 
anity ! How many duties have they lost, for want 
of doing them thoroughly, and to the purpose ! How 
far has many a man followed Christ, and yet forsaken 
him when it comes to the selling of all, to bearing the 
cross, to burning at the stake, or to renoimcing all his 



1-8 EXHORTATION TO DILIGENCE IN 

worldly interests and hopes for the gospel ! What 
pains has many a man taken for heaven, that never 
obtained it ! How many prayers, sermons, fasts, alms, 
good desires, confessions, sorrow and tears for sin, 
have all been lost, and fallen short of the kingdom ! 
Methinks this should affright us out of our sluggish- 
ness, and make us strive to outstrip the highest form- 
alist ! 

XIII. We have lost a great deal of precious time 
already, and therefore it is reasonable that we now 
labour so much the harder. If a traveller sleep, or 
trifle out the most of the day, he must travel so much 
the taster in the evening, or else he is likely to fall 
short of his journey's end. With some of us our 
childhood and youth are gone ; with some also their 
middle age is past, and the time before us is very 
short and uncertain. How much have we spent in 
worldly thoughts and pursuits, on trifles or in mere 
idleness ! Though in all likelihood the most of our 
time is spent, yet how little of our work is done ; and 
is it not high time now to bestir ourselves in the even- 
ing of our days ? The time which we have lost, can 
never be recalled. Should we not then redeem it, by 
improving the little which remains ? 

XIV. Consider that the greater your present labours, 
the greater will be your future joys. Though you 
may seem to lose your labour at present, yet the hour 
conies when you will find it with advantage. None 
will ever complain that he came to heaven at too dear 
a rate, or that his salvation cost him more labour than 
it was worth ; but, on the contrary, it will be our joy to 
look back on our labours and sufferings, and to consider 
bow the mighty power of God brought us through all. 
A\ e may say of them, as Paul, « I reckon that the 
labours and sufferings of this present time, are not 
worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be 
revealed in us." We labour but for a moment, but 
we shall then rest for ever. All our tears will then 
be wiped away, and all our sorrows be swallowed up 
in an ocean of glory and joy. 

XV. Consider that laborious striving for salvation 



SEEKING THE HEAVENLY REST. 129 

is the way which the wisdom of God has prescribed 
as best, aiid which his sovereign authority has ap- 
pointed as necessary. Who knows the way to heaven 
better than the God of heaven? When men tell us 
that we are too strict and precise, whom do they ac- 
cuse, — God or us? And dare these men think that 
they are wiser than God? Do they know better than 
he what we must do to be saved ? Mark well the 
language of God, and see how you can reconcile it 
with the language of the world: "The kingdom of 
heaven sutfereth violence, and the violent take it by 
force." Or, as it is in Luke, " Every one presseth 
into it." " Strive to enter in at the strait gate ; for 
many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." 
" Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
might ; for there is no work, nor device, nor know- 
ledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest." 
" Know ye not, that they which run in a race, run all, 
but one receiveth the prize ? So run that ye may 
obtain." " If a man strive for masteries, yet is he not 
crowned, except he strive lawfully," that is, power- 
fully and prevailingly. " Work out your own salva- 
tion with fear and trembling." " Give diligence to 
make your calling and election sure." " If the 
righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly 
and the sinner appear ?" Such is the constant lan- 
guage of the Scriptures. And which shall I follow — 
God or men ? 

God indeed has resolved that heaven shall not be 
had on easier terms. He has not only commanded it 
as a duty, but has indissolubly connected our salva- 
tion with the performance of it. Some, indeed, think 
it is good to be holy, but yet not of such absolute ne- 
cessity, but that a man may be saved without it ; but 
God has determined on the contrary, " that without 
holiness no man shall see his face." Seriousness is 
the very thing wherein consists our sincerity. If thou 
art not serious, thou art not a Christian. It is not 
only a high degree in Christianity, but of the very 
life and essence of it. 

XVI. Consider that this is a course which all men 



130 EXHORTATION TO DILIGENCE IN 

in the world either do, or will approve of. There is 
not a Mian that ever was, or is, or shall be, but shall 
one day justify the, diligence of the saints, and give 
his verdict in favour of their wisdom. It is true, it is 
now a way every where spoken against; but let me 
tell you, many that speak against it, do in their con- 
sciences approve of it ; and even those that are now 
aga inst it, will shortly be of another mind. If they get 
to heaven, their judgment will be changed before they 
come thither. If they go to hell, their mind will then 
be altered, whether they will or not. 

Lastly, Consider that they who have been the most 
serious, painful Christians, when they come to die, do 
exceedingly lament their negligence. Even those that 
are derided by the world for being so strict, and are 
thought to be almost beside themselves for their extra- 
ordinary diligence, yet, when dying, are ready to ex- 
claim, " Oh, that we had been a thousand times more 
holy, more heavenly, more laborious for our souls !" 
What a case then will worldly men be in, when their 
consciences are awakened, when from a death-bed 
they look behind them upon a negligent life, and before 
them upon a severe and terrible judgment ! For my 
own part, I may say as Erasmus, " They accuse me 
of doing too much, but my own conscience accuses 
me for doing too little, and being too slow." It is, 
however, far easier bearing the scorn of the world, 
than the scourges of conscience. The world speaks at 
a distance without me, so that though I hear their 
words, I can choose whether or not I will feel them ; 
but my conscience speaks within me, at the very heart, 
so that every check pierces me to the quick. Con- 
science, when it reprehends justly, is the messenger 
of God ; but ungodly revilers are but the voice of the 
devil. As God and conscience are more useful friends 
than Satan and the world, so are they more dreadful, 
irresistible enemies. 






SEEKING THE HEAVENLY REST. 131 



PART II. 

Tims I have set before you sufficient arguments 
against slothfulness and negligence; yet, lest all this 
should not prevail, I will add somewhat more, if it be 
possible to persuade you to be serious in your endea- 
vours for heaven. 

1. Consider God is serious with you; and why 
should not you be so with him ? In his commands, 
he means as he speaks, and requires your unfeigned 
obedience. In his promises he is serious, and will 
fulfil them to the obedient, even to the least tittle. 
In his threatenings he is serious, and will make them 
all good against the rebellious. In his judgments 
he is serious, as he will make his enemies know to 
their terror, especially when it comes to the great 
reckoning day. And is it time then for us to trifle 
with God ? 

2. Jesus Christ was serious in purchasing our re- 
demption. He was serious in teaching, when, for this 
purpose, he neglected his meat and his drink. He 
was serious in praying, when he " continued all night' ' 
in this sacred exercise. He was serious in doing good, 
" when his friends came to lay hands on him, think- 
ing he was beside himself." He was serious in suf- 
fering, when he was tempted, betrayed, spit on, buf- 
fetted, crowned with thorns, sweat drops of blood, 
was crucified, died. There was no trifling in all this ; 
and should not we be serious in seeking our own sal- 
vation ? 

3. The Holy Ghost is serious in soliciting us for 
our happiness. His motions are frequent and press- 
ing, and importunate. He strives with our hearts ; he 
is " grieved" when we resist him. And should not 
we be serious in obeying his motions, and yielding to 
his suit ? 

4. The ministers of Christ are serious in instruct- 
ing and exhorting you, and why should not you be 



132 EXHORTATION TO DILIGENCE IN 

as serious in obeying their instructions? They are 
serious in study, serious in prayer, serious in per- 
suading you to the obedience of Christ They beg of 
God, they beg of you, they hope, they wait, they long 
inure lor the conversion and salvation of your souls, 
than they do for any worldly good : "You are their 
hope, their joy, their crown of rejoicing." And shall 
other men be so careful for your salvation, and will 
you be careless and negligent of your own? 

5. The servants of the world and of the devil are 
serious and diligent in their work. They ply it con- 
tinually with unweariedness and delight, as if they 
could never do enough ; and shall they do more for 
the devil than thou wilt do for God, or be more dili- 
gent for damnation than thou wilt be for salvation ? 
Hast not thou a better master, and sweeter employ- 
ment, and greater encouragement, and a higher 
reward ? 

6. The time was when thou wast serious thyself 
in the service of sin, if it be not so yet. Dost thou not 
remember how eagerly thou didst follow the world 
and its evil company, and sinful pleasures ? And wilt 
thou not now be more earnest and serious for God ? 
" What fruit had ye in those things, whereof ye are 
now ashamed ? For the end of those things is death : 
but now being made free from sin, and become the 
servants of God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and 
the end everlasting life." 

7. You are to this day serious and in good ear- 
nest about the matters of this life. If you are sick, 
what groans and complaints do you utter ! If you 
are poor, how hard do you labour for your living, 
that your wife and children may not starve or famish ! 
And is not the business of your Saviour of far greater 
moment? Are you not poor? and should you not 
then be labourers ? Are you not employed in fi^ht ing 
for your lives? and is it time to sleep? Are you not 
engaged in a race ? and is not the prize a crown of 
glory ? and should you then sit still and take your 
ease ? 

Lastly j All in heaven and in hell, are serious. The 



SEEKING THE HEAVENLY REST. 133 

saints have a substantial happiness, and the damned a 

real misery ; the one are serious and high in their joys 
and praises; the other are serious and deep in their 
sorrows and complaints. There are no remiss or 
sleepy praises in heaven, nor any remiss or sleepy 
lamentations in hell : Ail there are in good earnest. 
And should we not then be serious now ? 

And now, reader, having laid before thee these un- 
deniable arguments, I do here, in the name of God, 
demand thy resolution. What sayest thou? Wilt 
thou yield obedience or not? I am confident thy 
conscience is convinced of thy duty. Darest thou live 
as thoughtlessly, and sin as boldly, and pray as rarely 
and as coldly as before ? Darest thou spend the Sab- 
bath as carnally, and slumber over the service of God 
as inattentively, and think of thine everlasting state as 
slightly as before ? Or dost thou not rather resolve to 
"gird up the loins of thy mind/' and to set thyself 
wholly about the work of thy salvation ; to " lay aside 
every weight, and the sin that doth so easily bdset 
thee, and to run with patience the race that is set before 
thee ?" I hope these are thy resolutions. If thou 
act agreeably to reason, I am sure they are. 



PART III. 

Yet because I know the strange obstinacy and hard- 
ness of the heart of man, I once more entreat thee to 
stir up thy attention, and go along with me in the free 
and sober use of thy reason, while I propound to thee 
the following questions. 

Question 1. If you could grow rich by religion, or 
get lands and lordships by being diligent in godliness, 
or if you could get honour or preferment by it in the 
world, or could be recovered from sickness by it, or 
could live for ever in prosperity on earth, what kind 
of lives would you then lead ; and what pains would 
you take in the service of God ? And is not the rest 
of the saints a more excellent happiness than all this ? 

Question 2. If the law of the land punished every 

12 



134 EXHORTATION' TO DILIGENCE IN 

bleach of the Sabbath, or every omission of family or 
secret duties, or every cold and heartless prayer, with 
death, what manner of persons would you then be, 
and what lives would you lead? And is not eternal 
death more terrible than temporal? 

Question 3. If it were God's ordinary course to 
punish every sin with some present judgment, so that 
whenever a man swears, or is drunk, or utters a lie, 
or backbites his neighbour, he should be struck dead, 
or blind, or lame on the spot ; what manner of per- 
sons would you then be, and what kind of lives would 
you lead ? And is not eternal wrath more terrible 
than any or all of these temporal punishments ? 

Question 4. If you knew that this was the last day 
you had to live in the world, how would you spend 
this day ? If you were sure, when you go to bed, 
that you would never rise again, would not your 
thoughts of another life be more serious that night ? 
If you knew when you were praying, that you would 
never pray more, would you not be more earnest and 
importunate in that prayer ? Why, you do not know 
but it may be the last ; and you are sure your last is 
near at hand. 

Question 5. If you should see the general dissolution 
of the world, and all the pomp and glory of it con- 
sumed to ashes ; if you saw all on fire around you, 
sumptuous buildings, cities, kingdoms, earth, heaven, 
all flaming about you ; if you saw all that men 
laboured for gone, friends gone, the place of your 
former abode gone ; the history of the world ended, 
the consummation of all things ; what an impression 
may we suppose this would make on your mind ! 
Why, such a sight thou shalt certainly see. Let me, 
then, put a question to thee in the words of the apos- 
tle, " Seeing all these things shall be dissolved, what 
manner of persons ought ye to be, in all holy conver- 
sation and godliness, looking for, and hastening unto 
the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens 
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat !" 

Question 6. What if you had seen the process of 



SEEKING THE HEAVENLY REST. 135 

the judgment of the great day? If yon had seen the 
judgment set, and the books opened, and the majority 
of men stand trembling on the left hand of the judge, 
and Christ himself accusing them of their rebellions 
and neglects, and at last condemning them to ever- 
lasting perdition; if you bad seen the godly standing 
on the right band, and Christ acknowledging their 
faithful obedience, and adjudging them to the posses- 
sion of everlasting joy, what manner of persons would 
you be after such a sight as this! Why, this sight 
thou shalt one day see, as sure as thou now livest. 
and why, then, should not the foreknowledge of such 
a day awake thee to thy duty ? 

Question 7. What if you had lain in hell but one 
year, or one day, or one hour, and there felt all those 
torments of which you now do but hear, and if God 
should turn you into the world again, and try you 
with another lifetime, what manner of persons would 
you be ! If you were to live a thousand years, would 
you not gladly live as strictly as the Bible requires, so 
you might but escape the torment which you had suf- 
fered? How seriously would you pray, and hear, 
and read, and watch, and obey ! How solemnly would 
you speak of hell, and how earnestly would you ad- 
monish the careless to take heed, lest they should 
come into that place of torment ! And will you not 
take God's word for the truth of all this, except you 
feel it ? 

Question 8. What if you had enjoyed but one year 
the glory of heaven, and there joined with the saints 
and angels in beholding God, and singing his praise, and 
should afterwards be turned into the world again? 
What a life would you lead ! What pains would you 
take rather than be deprived of such incomparable 
glory ! Would you think any cost too great, or any 
diligence too much? Before you would lose that 
blessed state, you would labour in the service of God, 
both night and day, and " suffer the loss of all things, 
and would not count even your lives dear unto you, 
if you might finish your course with joy." And 
should not we do as much to obtain it ? 



136 EXHORTATION TO DILIGENCE IN 

Thus I have said enough, if not to stir up the indo- 
lent sinner to the serious working out of his salvation, 
yet at least to silence him, and leave him inexcusable 
at the judgment of God. If thou canst, after all this, 
go on in the same neglect of God and thy soul; if thou 
hast so far conquered and stupified thy conscience, 
that it will quietly suffer thee to trifle out the rest of 
thy time in the business of the world, when, in the 
mean while, thy salvation is in danger, and the Judge 
is at the door, I have then no more to say to thee. 



PART IV. 

Yet I will add a few more words to the godly, to 
show them why they above all men should be labori- 
ous for heaven ; and that there is a great deal of rea- 
son, that though all the world besides should sit still 
and be careless, yet they should lay out all their 
strength on the work of God. To this end, I desire 
them to answer the following questions. 

Question 1. What manner of persons should those 
be, whom God has chosen to be vessels of mercy, who 
have received the Spirit for sanctification, consolation, 
and preservation, and the pardon of sins, and adoption 
to sonship, and the guard of angels, and the mediation 
of the Son of God, and the special love of the Father, 
and the promise and seal of everlasting life — do but 
tell me in good earnest, what kind of life these men 
should live ? 

Question 2. What manner of persons should those 
be, who have felt the smart of their negligence, so 
much as the godly have done, in the new birth, in 
their trouble of conscience, in their doubts and fears, 
in their sharp afflictions both on body and estate ? 
They that have groaned and cried out so often under 
the sense and effects of their negligence, and are 
likely enough to feel it again, if they do not reform, — 
surely one would think they should be slothful no 
more. 

Question 3. What manner of persons should they 



SEEKING THE HEAVENLY REST. 137 

be in holy diligence, who have been so long convinced 
of the evil of indolence, and hare confessed it on their 
knees a hundred and a thousand timed, both in public 
and in private, and have told God ill prayer how in- 
excusably they l^ave therein offended? Should they 
thus confess their sin, and yet commit it, as if they 
told God what they would do, as well as what they 
have dott 

Question L What manner of persons should those 
be in painful godliness, who have bound themselves 
to God by so many covenants as we have done, and 
have engaged so oft to be more diligent and faithful 
in his service ? At every sacrament, on many days 
of humiliation and thanksgiving, in most of our deep 
distresses and dangerous sicknesses, we are ever ready 
to bewail our neglects, and to engage, if God will but 
try us once more, how diligent and laborious we will 
be, and how we will improve our time, and ply our 
work. The Lord pardon our perfidious covenant- 
breaking, and grant that our engagements may not 
condemn us ! 

Question 5. What manner of men should they be 
in duty, who have received so much encouragement 
as we have done by our success ; who have tasted 
such sweetness in diligent obedience ; who have found 
all our strivings and wrestlings with God successful, 
so that we never importune him in vain ; who have 
had so many admirable deliverances upon urgent 
seeking ; and have received almost all our solid com- 
forts in a way of close and constant duty ? How 
should we above all men ply our work ! 

Question 6. What manner of men should they be, 
who are yet at such great uncertainties, whether 
they are justified and sanctified, whether or not they 
are the children of God, and what shall everlastingly 
become of their souls, as most of the godly that I meet 
with are ? They that have discovered the excellency 
of the kingdom, and yet have not discovered their 
interest in it, but discern a danger of perishing or 
losing all, and have need of that advice, " Let us fear 
lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, 

12* 



138 EXHORTATION TO DILIGENCE, &C. 

any of you should seem to come short of it :" — how 
should such men bestir themselves in time ! 

Question 7. What manner of persons should they 
be in holiness, who have so much of the great work 
yet undone as we have ? Sins so m^ny and so strong ; 
graces so weak ; our acquaintance and communion 
with Christ so small; our desires to be with him so 
feeble, all call for strenuous exertion. Our time is 
short ; our enemies mighty ; our hindrances many : — 
And should men in our case stand still ? 

Question 8. What manner of men should they be 
in holy diligence, whose lives and duties are so inti- 
mately connected with the salvation of the souls of 
others ? If we slip, many are ready to stumble : if 
we stumble, many are ready to fall. If we admonish 
them daily, and faithfully, and plainly, and exhort 
them with bowels of pity and love, and pray hard for 
them, and go before them in a holy and inoffensive con- 
versation, we may be instruments of saving many of 
our fellow men from everlasting perdition, and bring- 
ing them to the possession of the he:.venly inheritance. 
On the contrary, if we neglect them, or cause them to 
stumble and fall, we may be occasions of their ever- 
lasting torment. 

Lastly, What manner of persons should they be, 
on whom the glory of the great God so much depends? 
We bear his image, and therefore men will measure 
him by his representation. He is no where in the 
world so strongly represented, as in his saints : and 
shall they set him forth as a pattern of sin or idleness? 
All the world is not capable of honouring or dis- 
honouring God so much as we ; while the least of his 
honour is of more worth than all our lives. 

Seeing then that all these things which I have men- 
tioned are so, I charge thee who art a Christian, in 
rny Master's name, to consider and resolve the ques- 
tion, " What manner of persons ought we to be in all 
holy conversation and godliness?" And let thy life 
answer the question as well as thy tongue. 



A PERSUASIVE TO TRY OUR TITLE. 139 



CHAPTER III. 

PERSUADING ALL MEN TO TRY THEIR TITLE TO THE 
HEAVENLY REST. 

I now proceed to the third use, and because it is of 
very great importance, I entreat you to attend to it 
the more diligently, and to weigh it the more seriously. 
Is there a glorious rest so near at hand, and shall 
none enjoy it but the people of God ? What, then, 
mean the most of the world by living so contentedly 
without assurance of their interest in this rest, and by 
neglecting to try their title to it ? When the Lord has 
so fully opened the blessedness of that kingdom, which 
none but a little flock of obedient believers shall 
possess, and so fully made known those torments 
which all the rest of the world must eternally suffer, 
one would think that they who believe all this to be 
true, would never have any quiet in themselves till 
they knew which of these will be their own state, 
and were fully assured that they were heirs of the 
kingdom. Most men that I meet with say, they be- 
lieve the word of God to be true. How then can they 
sit still in such utter uncertainty, whether they shall 
ever live in rest or not ? Lord, what a strange mad- 
ness is this, that men, who know not but sickness may 
summon them, and death call them away, and intro- 
duce them into a world of unchangeable joy or pain, 
should yet live as uncertain of what shall be their 
doom, as if they had never heard of any such state ; 
yea, and live as quietly and as gaily in this state of 
uncertainty, as if all were made sure, and nothing ailed 
them, and there were no danger ! If they have but a 
weighty suit at law, how careful are they to know 
whether it will go with them, or against them ? If they 
were to be tried for their life before an earthly judica- 
ture, how careful would they be to know whether 



*40 A PERSUASIVE TO TRY OUR 

they would be acquitted or condemned ? If Uiey be 
dangerously sick, they will inquire of the physician, 
v\ hat think you, sir, shall I recover or not ? But as 
to the business of their salvation, they are content to 
be uncertain. If you ask most men why they hope 
to be saved, they will answer, Because God is merci- 
ful, and Christ died for sinners, and the like general 
reasons, which any man in the world may give as well 
as they. But put them to prove their special interest 
in the saving mercy of God, and in the death of Christ, 
and they can say nothing from their hearts and expe- 
rience. Men are desirous to know all things, save 
God and themselves. They will travel over sea and 
land, to know the situation of countries, and the cus- 
toms of the world : they will go to schools and univer- 
sities, and turn over multitudes of books, and read and 
study from year to year, to know the creatures, and to 
excel in the sciences : and yet they never read the 
book of conscience, nor study the state of their own 
souls, that they may make sure of living for ever 
What horrible abuse of God is this, for men to pretend 
that they trust God with their souls, merely to cloak 
their own wilful negligence ! I know not what thou 
thinkest of thy own state ; but, for my part, did I not 
know what a carnal heart is, I would wonder how 
tlK)u didst contrive to forget thy misery, and to keep 
off continual terrors from thy heart, such especially in 
cases as the following : 

1. I wonder how thou canst either think or speak 
of the dreadful God without exceeding terror and as- 
tonishment, as long as thou art uncertain whether he 
be thy father or thy enemy, and knowest not but all 
his attributes may be armed against thee. If his 
"saints must rejoice before him with trembling ;" if 
they that are sure to receive the everlasting kingdom 
must yet serve Him « with reverence and godly fear » 
because he is « a consuming fire"— how should the 
remembrance of him be terrible to them that know 
not but this fire may for ever consume them ? 

2. How canst thou open a Bible, and read a chap- 
ter, without being terrified by it ? Methinks every 



TITLE TO THE HEAVENLY REST. Ill 

leaf should be to thee as Belshazzar's writing upon 
the wall, except only that which draws thee to try 
and reform. If thou read the promises, thou knowest 
not whether they shall ever be fulfilled to thee. If 
thou read the threatening^ for any thing thou knowest, 
thou dost read thy own sentence. 

I wonder how thou canst without terror approach 
Bod in prayer, or in any duty. When thou callest 
him thy Father, thou knowest not whether thou 
gpeakest truth or falsehood. When thou needest him 
in thy sickness, or other extremity, thou knowest not 
whether thou hast a friend to go to, or an enemy. 
When thou receivest the Sacrament, thou knowest 
not whether thou takest thy blessing or thy bane. And 
who would wilfully live such a life as this ? 

4. What comfort canst thou find in any thing which 
thou possessest ? Methinks friends, and honours, and 
houses, and lands, should do thee little good, till 
thou know that thou hast the love of God shed abroad 
in thy heart, and shalt have rest with him when thou 
shalt have to leave these behind thee. Offer a prisoner, 
before he know his sentence, music, or wealth, or 
preferment, and what cares he for any of these, till he 
know whether he shall escape with his life ? for he 
knows, if he must die the next day, it will be small 
comfort to him to die rich or honourable. Methinks 
it should be so with thee, till thou know what shall be 
thine eternal state. 

5. How dost thou contrive to think of thy dying 
hour ? Thou knowest it may be near at hand, and 
that there is no avoiding it, nor any medicine that can 
prevent it. Thou knowest that death is the king of 
terrors, and the introduction to thine unchangeable 
state. The godly who have some assurance of their 
everlasting happiness, have yet much ado to submit 
to it willingly, and find, that to die comfortably is a 
very difficult work. How then canst thou think of it 
without astonishment, who hast no assurance of thy 
eternal felicity ? 

6. How dost thou contrive to preserve thy heart 
from horror, when thou thinkest of the judgment-day, 



142 HINDRANCES OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 

and the everlasting flames ? Dost thou not tremble 
as Felix, when thou hearest of them ? Methinks thy 
heart, whenever thou meditatest of that day, should 
meditate terror ; and thou shouldst even be * a terror 
to thyself, and to all thy friends." 

I have shown thee the danger of this state of igno- 
rance ; let me next proceed to show thee the remedy. 

First, That it is possible by self-examination, to 
come to some degree of certainty about our state. 

Secondly, I will state to you the hindrances that 
keep men from self-examination and from assurance. 

Thirdly, I will lay down some motives to persuade 
you to self-examination. 

Fourthly, I will give you some directions for per- 
forming self-examination. 

Lastly, I will lay down some marks out of Scrip- 
ture, by which you may examine yourselves, and so 
come to some degree of certainty, whether or not you 
are among the people of God for whom this rest 
remains. 



SECTION I. 

The Possibility of knowing oar State by Self-exami- 
nation. 

First, I shall show you that it is possible by self- 
examination, to come to some degree of certainty about 
our state. 

I. Scripture tells us, we may know, and that many 
saints before us have known, their justification and 
future salvation, John xxi. 15-17; Rom. viii. 16, 17, 
35-39 ; 2 Cor. v. 1 ; Eph. hi. 12 ; 1 John ii. 3, 5 : hi. 
14, 24; iv. 13; v. 19. I refer you to the places for 
the sake of brevity. 

II. The Scripture would never make such a wide 
difference between the righteous and the wicked, the 
children of God, and the children of the devil, and set 
iorth so largely the happiness of the one and the misery 



HINDRANCES OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 1 13 

of the Other, it" a man could not know which of these 
tWO estates he is in. 

III. To what purpose should we be so earnestly 
urged to examine, and prove, and try oujselves, 
whether we be in the faith, and whether Christ be in 
us, or we are reprobates, if we cannot attain to some 
degree o\ certainty in the matter? 1 Cor. xi. 28, and 
2 Cor. xiii. 5. Why should we search for that which 
cannot be found ? 

I V". 1 low can we obey those precepts which require 
us to rejoice always, 1 Thess. v. 1G; to call God our 
Father, Luke xi. 2, to long for Christ's second com- 
ing, Rev. xxii. 17-20, and to comfort ourselves with 
the prospect of it, 1 Thess. iv. 18, which are all the 
consequences of assurance ? Who can do any of these 
heartilv, that is not in some measure sure that he is a 
child of God ? 



SECTION II. 

Of the Hindrances of Self Examination. 

Secondly, I shall proceed to show you the hindrances 
of self-examination. 

Here we shall consider, 

I. The Impediments to Self-examination. 

II. The Causes of Self-deception. 

III. The Causes of doubting among Christians. 



PART I. 

Impediments to Self-examination. 

I. We cannot doubt but Satan will do his part, to 
hinder us from examining ourselves. If all the power 
he has can do it, or all the means and instruments 
which he can raise up, he will be sure, above all things, 
to keep you from this duty. He is loath the godly 
should have that joyful assurance and that advantage 



144 HINDRANCES OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 

against corruption, which the faithful performance of 
self-examination would procure them. And as to the 
ungodly, he knows, that if they should honestly engage 
in this exercise, they would be likely to find out his 
deceits, and their own danger, and so escape him. 
How could he get so many millions to hell willingly, if 
they knew they were going thither ? They would think 
every day a year till they were out of danger ; and 
whether they were eating, drinking, working, or what- 
ever they were doing, the thoughts of their danger 
would be ever in their mind, and this voice would be 
ever sounding in their ears, " Except ye repent and be 
converted, ye shall surely perish." The devil knows 
well, that if he cannot keep men from trying their 
state, and knowing their misery, he will hardly be 
able to keep them from repentance and salvation. 

He therefore labours to keep them from a searching 
ministry ; or to keep the minister from helping them 
to search ; or to take off the edge of the word, that it 
may not pierce their hearts ; or to turn away their 
thoughts from it ; or in some way to prevent its ope- 
ration, and the sinner's obedience. 

II. Wicked men are great hindrances to others 
examining themselves. Their example hinders much. 
When a poor sinner sees all his friends and neighbours 
do as he does, and live quietly in the same state with 
himself, yea, the rich and learned as well as others, 
this is a great temptation to him to sleep on in his secu- 
rity. The worldly discourse of these men, also takes 
away the thoughts of his spiritual state, and makes 
the understanding drunk with their earthly delights, 
so that if the Spirit had previously excited in his heart 
any jealousy of his state, or any purpose to try it, this 
soon quenches all. Besides, God scarcely ever opens 
the eyes of a poor sinner, to see the danger of his 
state, but presently his friends and acquaintance are 
ready to flatter him, and settle him again in the quiet 
possession of his former peace. "What!" say they, 
" do you make a doubt of your salvation, who have 
lived so well, and have done no body any harm, and 
have been beloved by all ? What do you think has 



HINDRANCES OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 145 

become of all your forefathers? And what will be- 
come of all your Wends and neighbours, that live 

you do? Will they all he damned? Shall none be 
saved, think you, but a lew strict precisians? If you 
hearken to them, they will drive you to despair. Are 
not all men sinners? And did not Christ die to save 
sinners? Never trouble your head with these thoughts, 
but believe you shall fare as well as others." Thus 
do they follow the soul that is escaping from Satan, 
with endless cries, till they bring him back. Oh ! how 
many thousands have such charms lulled asleep in 
deceit and security, till death and hell have awakened 
and informed them better ! 

Let me entreat you to consider, that it is Christ, and 
not your fathers or mothers, your neighbours or friends, 
who shall judge you at last ; and if Christ condemn 
you, they cannot save you ; and, therefore, common 
reason may tell you, that it is not from the words of 
men, but from the word of God, that you must draw 
your comfort and hopes of salvation. When Ahab 
would inquire among the multitude of flattering pro- 
phets, it proved his death. They can flatter men into 
the snare, but they cannot tell how to deliver them 
out of it. Oh ! take the counsel of the Holy Ghost, — 
" Let no man deceive you with vain words ; for be- 
cause of these things cometh the wrath of God upon 
the children of disobedience : be not ye therefore 
partakers with them ;" but " save yourselves from this 
untoward generation." 

III. The greatest hindrances to self-examination are 
men's own hearts. 

1. Some are so ignorant, that they know not what 
self examination is, nor what a minister means when 
he persuades them to try themselves ; or they know 
not that there is any necessity for it : but think every 
man is bound to believe that God is his Father, and 
that his sins are pardoned, and that it would be a 
great fault to have any doubt of it; or they do not 
think that assurance can be attained, or that there is 
any such great difference between one man and an- 

13 



146 HINDRANCES OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 

other, but that we are all Christians, and therefore 
need not trouble ourselves any further. 

2. Some are so possessed with self-love and pride, 
that they will not so much as suspect any danger to 
themselves. They are like a proud tradesman, who 
scorns the advice of his friends, to examine into the 
state of his affairs, lest he should become bankrupt; 
or as some fond parents who have an over-weening 
opinion of their own children, and will not believe or 
hear any evil of them. This foolish self-love hinders 
many from suspecting and trying their state. 

3. Some are so guilty that they dare not try them- 
selves. They are afraid that they will find their state 
unsound, and therefore they dare not search into it ; 
and yet they dare venture a more dreadful trial. 

4. Some are so much in love with sin, and have 
so much dislike to the ways of God, that they dare 
not venture on the trial of their state, lest they should 
be forced from the course which they love, to that 
which they hate. 

5. Most men are so taken up with their worldly 
affairs, and are so busy in providing for themselves 
and their families, that they plead a want of time to 
attend to the concerns of eternity. 

6. Most men are so slothful, that they will not be 
persuaded to be at the pains which are necessary to 
know their own hearts. It requires some labour and 
diligence to do the work thoroughly, and they will 
rather venture all, than take so much trouble. 

7. But the most common and dangerous impediment 
is that false hope commonly called presumption, which 
bears up the hearts of most men, and keeps them from 
suspecting their danger. 

Thus you see how many difficulties must be over- 
come, before a man can closely set about examining 
his own heart. 






HINDRANCES OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 147 



PART II. 

Causes of Self- Deception. 

If a man, however, breaks through all these impedi- 
ments, and sets about the duty, yet does he not always 
attain a correct knowledge of his own state and cha- 
racter. Of those few who do inquire after marks of 
grace, and bestow some pains to learn the difference 
between the sound and the unsound Christian, many 
are deceived, and miscarry, through the following 
causes. 

I. There is such darkness and confusion in the soul 
of man, especially of an unregenerate man, that he 
can scarcely tell what he does, or what is in him ; for 
the heart of the sinner is like an obscure cave or dun- 
geon, where there is but a little crevice of light, that a 
man must rather grope than see. No wonder if men 
mistake in searching such a heart, and so miscarry in 
judging of their state. 

II. Most men are strangers to themselves, and are 
little taken up with observing the temper and motions 
of their own hearts. All their studies are employed 
without them, and they are no where less acquainted 
than in their own breasts. 

III. Many engage in the work, forestalling the con- 
clusion. They are resolved what to judge before they 
try. They use the duty but to strengthen their pre- 
sent opinion of themselves, and not to find out their 
true condition. Like a bribed judge, who examines 
each party as if he would judge uprightly, when he is 
resolved beforehand which way the cause shall go ; 
so do men examine their hearts. 

IV. Most men are partial in their own cause. They 
are ready to think their great sins small, and their 
small sins to be none at all ; their gifts of nature to be 
the work of grace, and their gifts of common grace to 
be the special grace of the saints. The first common 
excellency which they meet with in themselves, so 



148 HINDRANCES OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 

dazzles their eyes, that they are at once satisfied that 
all is well, and look no further. 

V. Most men search but by halves. If the inquiry 
is not easily and quickly finished, they are discouraged, 
and leave it off. Few set to it, and follow it, as be- 
seems them in a work of such moment. He must 
"give all diligence" that means to know whether he 
has made his "calling and election sure." 

VI. Men often try themselves by false marks, not 
knowing wherein the truth of Christian grace consists ; 
some looking beyond, and some short of the Scripture 
standard. 

Lastly, Men frequently miscarry in this work, by 
setting about it in their own strength. As some ex- 
pect the Spirit should do it without them, so others 
attempt it themselves, without seeking or expecting 
the help of the Spirit. Both these will certainly mis- 
carry in their inquiry. 



PART III. 

Causes of Doubting among Christians. 

Because the comfort of a Christian so much consists 
in his assurance of God's special love, I will here pro- 
ceed a little further in opening to you some other 
hindrances, which prevent true Christians from attain- 
ing comfortable certainty as to their state and cha- 
racter. 

I. One common and great cause of doubting and 
uncertainty is, the weakness and small measure of our 
grace. Most Christians content themselves with a 
small measure of grace, and do not follow on to 
spiritual strength and manhood. They believe so 
weakly, and love God so little, that they can scarcely 
discover whether they believe and love at all, — like a 
man in a swoon, whose pulse and breathing are so 
weak and obscure, that it can hardly be perceived, 
whether they move at all, and consequently whether 
the man be alive or dead. 

II. Christians look more at the causes of their pre- 



HINDRANCES OF SBLF-E \ A M INATION. 1 10 

sent comfort or discomfort, than at their future happi- 
ness, and the way to attain it. They look' after signs 
which may tell them what they are, more than at 
precepts winch tell them what they should do. They 

arc very desirous to know whether or not they are 
justified; but they do not think what course they 
should take to he justified, if they be not; as if their 
sent ease must needs he their everlasting case, and 
as if they be now unpardoned, there were no remedy. 

III. Christians often mistake or confound assurance 
with the joy that sometimes accompanies it. When, 
therefore, they want the joy of assurance, they are as 
much cast down as if they wanted assurance itself. 
Dr. Sibbs says well, that as we cannot have grace, but 
by the work of the Spirit, so must there be a further 
act to make us know that we have that grace ; and 
when we know we have grace, yet must there be a 
further act of the Spirit to give us comfort in that 
knowledge. Some knowledge or assurance of our 
regenerate and justified state the Spirit gives more 
ordinarily ; but that sensible joy is more seldom and 
extraordinary. This these complaining souls under- 
stand not; and therefore though they cannot deny 
their willingness to have Christ, nor many other simi- 
lar graces, which are signs of their justification and 
adoption, yet because they do not feel their spirits 
replenished with comforts, they throw away all, as if 
they had nothing. 

IV. The trouble of poor souls is further increased, 
because they know not God's ordinary way of con- 
veying assurance. When they hear that it is the free 
gift of the Spirit, they conceive themselves to be merely 
passive therein, and that they have nothing to do but 
to wait until God bestow it ; not understanding, that 
though these comforts are spiritual, yet they are ra- 
tional, and result from an apprehension of the excel- 
lency of God our chief good, and of our interest in 
him, and from keeping him in our frequent meditations. 
Now, these mistaken Christians lie waiting till the 
Spirit shall cast in these comforts into their hearts, 
while they sit still, and labour not to excite their own 

13* 



150 HINDRANCES OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 

affections; nay, while they reason against the comforts 
which they wait for. Now, they must be taught to 
know, that the matter of their comfort is in the pro- 
mises, and thence they must draw it as oft as they 
expect it ; and that if they set themselves daily and 
diligently to meditate on the truth of the promises, 
and on the excellency contained in them, and on their 
own title thereto, they may, in this way, expect the 
Spirit's assistance for the raising of holy comfort in 
their souls. 

V. Another cause of the trouble of many souls is, 
their expecting a greater measure of assurance than 
God usually bestows upon his people. Most think as 
long as they have any doubting, they have no 
assurance ; they consider not that there are many de- 
grees of evidence below perfect and infallible evidence. 
They should know, that, while they are here, they 
shall know but in part. They shall be imperfect in 
the knowledge of Scripture, which is their rule in try- 
ing ; and imperfect in the knowledge of their own 
dark deceitful hearts. Some strangeness to God and 
themselves will still remain ; some darkness will over- 
spread their souls ; some unbelief will be making 
head against their faith ; and some of their grievings 
of the Spirit will be grieving to themselves, and make a 
breach in their peace and joy. Yet, as long as their 
faith is prevailing, and their assurance subdues their 
doubtings, though not quite expels them, they may 
walk in peace and comfort. But as long as they are 
resolved to lie down in sorrow till their assurance is 
perfect, their days on earth will be days of sorrow. 

VI. Many are long in trouble, in consequence of 
taking up their comforts in the beginning upon unsound 
or uncertain grounds. This may be the case of a 
gracious soul, which has better grounds, and does not 
see them ; and, when they grow to more ripeness of 
understanding, and come to find out the insufficiency 
of their former grounds of comfort, they cast away 
their comfort wholly, when they should only cast 
away their rotten props of it, and search for better 
with which to support it. It follows not that a man 



HINDRANCES OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 151 

is unregenerafte, because he judged himself regenerate 
upon wrong grounds ; for perhaps he might have bet- 
ter grounds and not know them. Safety and comfort 

stand not always on the same bottom. Bad grounds 
do prove the assurance bad which was built upon 
them, but they do not always prove the state bad. 
,lnst as I have seen persons turn from truth to errors 
or heresies. They took up the truth in the beginning 
upon false or doubtful grounds; and then, when theii 
grounds are overthrown or shaken, they think the 
doctrine is also overthrown; and so they let go both 
ther ; as if none had solid arguments, because they 
had not; or none could manage them better than they 
did. 

VII. Another great and common cause of doubting 
nd discomfort, is, the secret indulgence of some known 
sin. When a man lives in some unwarrantable 
practice, and God has often touched him for it, and 
conscience is galled, and yet he perseveres in it, — it is 
no wonder if he be destitute of both assurance and 
comfort. One would think that a soul that lies mider 
the fears of wrath, and is so tender as to tremble and 
complain, should be as tender of sinning, and scarcely 
adventure upon the appearance of evil ; and yet sad 
experience tells us that it is frequently otherwise. I 
have known too many such, that would complain and 
yet sin ; and accuse themselves, and yet sin still ; yea, 
and despair, and yet proceed in sinning : and all argu- 
ments and means could not keep them from the wilful 
committing of that sin again and again, which yet 
they themselves thought would prove their destruc- 
tion. 

This cherishing of sin hinders assurance in these 
four ways : — 

1. It abates the degree of our graces, and so makes 
them more indiscernible. 

2. It obscures that which it destroys not ; for it 
bears such sway, that grace is not in action, nor seen 
to stir, nor scarcely heard to speak for the noise of this 
corruption. 

3. It puts out or dims the eye of the soul, that it 



152 HINDRANCES OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 

cannot sec its own condition; and it benumbs and stu- 
pefies the heart, that it cannot feel its own case. 

i. But especially it provokes God to withdraw him- 
self, his comforts and the assistance of fiis Spirit, 
without which we may search Long enough before we 
have assurance. God has made a separation between 
sin and peace. Though they may consist together in 
some degree, yet so far as sin prevails in the soul, so 
far will the peace of that soul be defective. As long 
as thou dost favour or cherish thy pride and self- 
esteem, thy aspiring projects and love of the world, 
thy secret lust, or any like unchristian practice, thou 
expectest assurance and comfort in vain. God will 
not encourage thee by his precious gilts in a course of 
sinning. This worm will be gnawing upon thy con- 
science ; it will be a fretting, devouring canker to thy 
consolations. Thou mayest steal a spark of false com- 
fort from thy worldly prosperity or delight ; or thou 
mayest have it from some false opinions, or from the 
delusions of Satan ; but from God thou wilt have no 
more comfort, whilst thou makest no conscience of 
sinning. 

VIII. Another very great and common cause of 
want of assurance and comfort is, that men grow slug- 
gish in the spiritual part of duty, and keep not their 
graces in constant and lively action. Dr. Sibbs says 
truly, " It is the lazy Christian commonly that lacks 
assurance." The way of painful duty is the way of 
fullest comfort. Christ carries all our comforts in his 
hand. If we are out of that way where Christ is to 
be met, we are out of the way where comfort is to be 
had. 

This sluggishness debars us of our comforts in these 
three ways : — 

1. By stopping the fountain, and causing Christ to 
withhold this blessing from us. So far as the Spirit is 
grieved, he will suspend his consolations. Assurance 
and peace are Christ's great encouragements to faith- 
fulness and obedience ; and, therefore, though our 
obedience do not merit them, yet they usually rise and 
fall with our diligence in duty. 






HINDRANCES OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 153 

?. " Grace is never apparent and sensible to the soul, 
but while it is in action;" and therefore want of 

action nuLsl needs cause want of assurance. The fire 
that lies still in the Hint is neither seen nor felt ; 
but when you smite it, and force it into action, it is 
easily discerned. The greatest action forces the 
greatest observation ; whereas the dead and inactive 
are not remembered or taken notice of. That you 
have a habit oi faith or love, you can no otherwise 
know but as a consequence by reasoning; but that 
you have acts you may know by feeling. As Dr. 
Sibbs observes, " There is sometimes grief for sin 
in us when we think there is none ;" it wants but 
stirring up by some quickening word. The like may 
be said of every other grace. So long as a Christian 
has his graces in lively action ; so long, for the most 
part, he is assured of them. How can you doubt 
whether you love God in the act of loving? Or 
whether you believe, in the very act of believing ? 
If therefore you would be assured, whether this 
sacred fire be kindled in your hearts, blow it up ; get 
it into a flame, and then you will know. Believe till 
you feel that you do believe ; and love till you feel 
that you love. 

3. This sluggishness in spiritual duties occasions a 
want of that consolation which the action of the soul 
upon such excellent objects naturally produces. The 
very act of loving God brings inexpressible sweetness 
with it into the soul. The soul that is best furnished 
with grace, when it is not in action, is like a lute well 
tuned, which, while it lies still, makes no more music 
than a common piece of wood ; but when it is taken 
up and handled by a skilful musician, the melody is 
most delightful. " Some degree of comfort," says Dr. 
Sibbs, "follows every good action, as heat accom- 
panies fire, and as beams and influence issue from the 
sun." 

Lastly, Another ordinary cause of doubtings and 
discomfort, is the prevalence of melancholy, or of 
bodily disease. It is no more wonder for a conscien 
tious man that is overcome with melancholy, to doubt 



134 HINDRANCES OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 

and fear, and despair, than it is for a sick man to 
groan, or a child to cry when he is beaten. This is 
the case with most that I have known Ue long in 
doubting and distress of spirit. With some, melan- 
choly, produced by crosses or distempers of body, 
afterwards brings in trouble of conscience as its com- 
panion. With others, trouble of mind is their first 
trouble, which hanging long about them, at last brings 
the body also into a diseased state. And then the 
trouble of mind increases the disease of body, and the 
disease of body again increases the trouble of mind. 
This is a most sad and pitiable state : for as the dis- 
ease of the body is chronic and obstinate, and physic 
seldom succeeds where it has far prevailed ; so, with- 
out the physician, the labours of the divine are usually 
in vain. You may sileijce such persons, but you can- 
not comfort them. You may make them confess that 
they have some grace, and at present abate a little 
their sadness, yet as soon as they are left to their own 
reflections, all your convincing arguments are forgot- 
ten, and they are as far from comfort as ever. As a 
man that looks through a black, or blue, or red glass, 
thinks every thing which he sees to be of the same 
colour ; and if you would persuade him to the con- 
trary, he will not believe you, but wonder that you 
should offer to persuade him against his eye-sight, so 
a melancholy man sees all things in a sad and fearful 
light, because he looks at them through a dark and 
distempered medium. The chief part of the cure of 
these men must be on the body, because there is the 
chief part of the disease ; yet how to effect this is 
often no easy matter. 

Thus I have shown you the chief causes, why 
so many Christians enjoy so little assurance and con- 
solation. 



MOTIVES TO SELF-EXAMINATION. 155 



SECTION III. 

Motives to Self-Examination* 

Hating thus stated to you the hindrances of self- 
examination and of assurance, I shall proceed, thirdly, 
to set before you some motives to self-examination. 

.Many love to hear of marks of grace by which they 
may try themselves ; but few will be brought to spend 
an hour in applying them when they have them. 
They would like to have their doubts resolved ; but 
when they find that the woxk lies chiefly upon their 
own hands, and what pains it must cost them to search 
their hearts faithfully, then they give it up, and go no 
further. 

This is the case not only of the ungodly, who com- 
monly perish through this neglect ; but multitudes of 
the godly themselves, who spend days and years in 
sad complaints and doubtings, but will not be brought 
to spend a few hours in serious self-examination. I 
entreat all such persons to consider the following argu- 
ments, which I propound to them in the hope of per- 
suading them to this duty. 

I. To be deceived about your title to heaven is ex- 
ceedingly easy ; and not to be deceived is exceedingly 
difficult. 

Multitudes who never suspected any falsehood in 
their hearts ; yea, many that were confident of their 
integrity and safety, have yet proved unsound in the 
day of trial. How many poor souls are now in hell, 
that little thought of coming thither ! 

Many that excelled in worldly wisdom, have yet 
been deceived in this great business. They that had wit 
to deceive their neighbours, were yet deceived by 
Satan and their own hearts. Yea, those that have 
lived in the clear light of the gospel, and heard the 
difference between the righteous and the wicked 



15G MOTIVKS TO SELF-KXAMIXATION. 

deariy explained, and many a mark for trial laid 
clown, vvrn these have been, and daily are, deceived. 
i ea, those that have preached against the negli- 
gence of others, and pressed them to try themselves 
and showed them the danger of being mistaken, have' 
yet proved mistaken themseta s. 

And is it not then time for us to search our hearts 
to the very quick? 

II. To be deceived about our title to heaven is very 
common, as well as very easy; so common that it is 
the case of most in the world. Almost all men amon- 
us hope to be saved, and vet Christ says to us, « IVide 
is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to de- 
struction, and many there be that go in thereat: but 
strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which 
leadeth unto life, ixnd few there be that find it." 

Now, if swh multitudes are deceived, should not 
we search the more diligently, lest we should be de- 
ceived as well as they? 

III. To be deceived about our title to heaven is 
very dangerous. The consequences of it are lamenta- 
ble and desperate. 

1 . It will exceedingly confirm them in the service 
of Satan, and fix them in their present way of death 
They will never seek to be recovered, as long as they 
think their present state may serve. As the prophet 
says, « A deceived heart will turn them aside, that 
they cannot deliver their own soul, nor say, Is there 
not a he in my right hand ?" 

2. It will destroy the efficacy of the means of <>race 
that should do them good ; nay, it will convert them 
into the means of their hardening and ruin. J( a 
man mistake his bodily disease, and think it to be the 
opposite of what it is, he will be apt to use remedies 
which will increase it. So when an ungodly man 
should apply the threatenings and terrors of the Lord 
a mistake on this head will make him apply the pro- 
mises. Now, there is no greater strengthener of sin, 
and destroyer of the soul, than Scripture misapplied. 

3. It will keep a man from compassionating his own 
soul. Though he be a sad object of pity to every 



MOTIVES TO SELF-EXAMINATION. 157 

understanding man that beholds him, yet will he not 
be able to pity himself, because he knows not his own 
misery. Oh! is it not a pitiful sight to sec a man 
Laughing, when his understanding friends stand by 
>r his misery ? Paul speaks of the voluptu- 
ous men and of the worldlings of his time even weep- 
ing ; but we never read of their weeping for themselves. 
Christ stood weeping over Jerusalem, when they knew 
not of any evil that was to befal them, nor gave him 
thanks for his pity or his tears. 

4. It refers to matters of the greatest moment, and 
therefore to mistake here must be most important. 
Surely, in such a weighty case, where our everlasting 
salvation or damnation is in question, every mistake 
is insufferable and inexcusable, which might have 
been prevented by any cost or pains. Men choose 
the most able lawyers and physicians, because mis- 
takes of the one may lose them their estates, and mis- 
takes of the other may lose them their lives. But mis- 
takes about the soul are of a higher nature, and are 
attended by more momentous consequences. 

5. If you should continue your mistakes till death, 
there will be no time afterwards to correct them for 
your recovery. Mistake now, and you are undone 
for ever. Men think, that to see a man die quietly or 
comfortably, is to see him die happily ; but if his com- 
fort proceed from a mistake of his condition, it is one 
of the most painful and pitiable sights in the world. 
To live mistaken in such a case is lamentable, but to 
die mistaken is desperate, indeed. 

Seeing, then, the case is so dangerous, what wise 
man would not follow the search of his heart, both 
night and day, till he be assured of his safety ? 

IV. Consider how small the labour of this duty is 
in comparison of the sorrow which will follow its 
neglect. A few hours' or days' work, if it be closely 
followed, and with good direction, may do much to 
resolve the question. There is no such trouble in 
searching our hearts, nor any such danger, as should 
deter men from it. What harm can it do to you to 
try or to know your state and your prospects for eter- 

14 



158 MOTIVES TO SELF-EXAMINATION. 

nity ? If you cannot find time to make sure of hea- 
ven, how can you find time to eat, or drink, or sleep ? 
You can toil from day to day and from year to year, 
in the hardest labours, and ran you not endure to 
spend a little time in inquiring what shall be your 
everlasting state? What a deal of sorrow and after 
complaining might this small labour prevent ! 

V. Thou canst scarcely do Satan a greater pleasure, 
or thyself a greater injury, than by neglecting self- 
examination. It is the main scope of the devil, in all 
his temptations, to deceive thee, and keep thee igno- 
rant of thy danger ; and wilt thou join with him to 
deceive thyself? If he did not deceive thee, he could 
not destroy thee : and if thou do this for him, thou dost 
the greatest part of his work, and art the chief destroyer 
of thyself. Among all the multitudes that perish, this 
is the most common cause of their undoing, that they 
would not be brought to try their state in time. 

VI. The time is near when God will search you, 
and that will be another kind of trial than this. If it 
be but in this life by the fiery trial of afliiction, it will 
make you often and earnestly wish that you had 
spared God that work, and yourselves the sorrow. 
Men think God regards their state and ways no more 
than they do their own. " They consider not in their 
hearts," says the Lord, " that I remember all their 
wickedness. Now their own doings have beset them 
about ; they are before my face." what a happy 
preparation would it be for that last and great trial, 
if men would but thoroughly try themselves, and 
make sure work beforehand ! When a man, by faith, 
thinks of that day, and especially when he shall see 
" the judgment set, and the books opened," what a 
joyful preparation will it be, if he can truly say, " I 
know the sentence will be in my favour ! I have 
examined myself by the same law of Christ which 
now shall judge me, and I have found that I am 
acquitted of all my guilt, having < washed my robes, 
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.' " 

Lastly, Consider the blessed effects of self-exami- 
nation. If thou be upright and godly, it will lead 



MOTIVES TO SELF-EXAMINATION. 159 

thee towards assurance of God's love; and if ever 
God shall bestow this blessing of assurance on thee, 

thou wilt account thyself one of the happiest men on 
earth, and wilt feel that it is not a notional or empty 
mercy. For, 

(l.j What sweet thoughts wilt thou then have of 
God ! All the greatness, holiness, and justice, which 
are the terror oi others, will be a matter of delight and 
joy to thee. When the thunder roars, and the light- 
nings Bash, and the earth quakes, and the signs of 
dreadful Omnipotence appear, thou wilt be able to 
say, All this is the effect of my Father's power. 

(2.) How sweet will be every thought of Christ ! 
Then will the name of a Saviour be to thee "as 
ointment poured forth;" and the thoughts of his gen- 
tle and loving nature, and of the gracious design which 
he has carried on for thy salvation, will delight thy 
heart. 

(3.) What comfort will every passage in the word 
of God afford thee ! How sweet will be the promises, 
when thou art sure they are thine own ! The gospel 
will then be indeed glad tidings to thy soul. The 
very threatenings will be to thee a source of comfort, 
when thou rememberest that thou hast escaped them. 
Then wilt thou cry with David, " how I love thy 
law ! More to be desired is it than gold, yea, than 
much fine gold ; sweeter also than honey and the 
honey-comb." 

(4.) What boldness and comfort wilt thou have in 
prayer ! When thou canst say, Our Father, in full 
assurance ; and knowest that thou art welcome and 
accepted through Christ, and that thou hast a promise 
to be heard whenever thou askest, and that God is 
readier to grant thy requests than thou to make them, 
with what comfortable boldness mayest thou approach 
the throne of grace ! This assurance in prayer will 
be a sweet privilege indeed, particularly when the 
case is weighty, and thy necessity urgent. 

(5.) How will it multiply the sweetness of every 
mercy thou receivest, when thou art sure that all pro- 
ceeds from love, and is the beginning and earnest of 



160 MOTIVES TO SELF-EXAMINATION. 

everlasting mercies ! Thou wilt then have more com- 
fort in a morsel of bread, than the world has in the 
greatest abundance of all things. 

(6.) How comfortably mayest thou undergo all 
afflictions, when thou knowest that God means thee no 
hurt in them, but has promised, that "All things shall 
work together for thy good," when thou art sure that 
he chastens thee, because he loves thee, and scourges 
thee, because thou art a son whom he will receive, 
and that out of very faithfulness he afflicts thee ! What 
a support will this be to thy heart ; and how will it 
abate the bitterness of the cup ! 

(7.) This assurance will sweeten to thee the fore- 
thoughts of death, and make thy heart glad to think 
of thy entrance into everlasting joy ; while a man that 
is uncertain whither he is going, must needs die with 
horror. 

(S.) It will sweeten thy fore-thoughts of judgment, 
when thou art sure that it will be the day of thy abso- 
lution and coronation. 

(9.) The very thoughts of the flames of hell will 
administer consolation to thee, when thou canst cer- 
tainly conclude thou art saved from them. 

(10.) The fore-thoughts of heaven will also be in- 
conceivably delightful, when thou art certain that it is 
the place of thine everlasting abode. 

(11.) It will make thee exceedingly lively and 
strong in the work of the Lord. With what courage 
wilt thou run, when thou knowest thou shalt win the 
prize ; and fight, when thou knowest thou shalt gain 
the victory. It will make thee always abound in 
the work of the Lord, when thou knowest that thy 
labour will not be in vain in the Lord. 

(12.) It will make thee more profitable to others. 
Thou wilt be a more cheerful encourager of thy fellow- 
men from thine own experience. Thou wilt be able 
to refresh the weary, and to strengthen the weak, and 
to speak a word of comfort in season to troubled souls. 

(13.) It will put life into ail thy affections and graces. 
It will help thee to repent and melt over thy sins, 
when thou knowest how dearly God did love thee, 



DIRECTION > FOB sELF-EXAMINATION. 161 

whom thou hast abused It will inflame thy bouI 
with love to God, when thou once knowesl thy o 
relation to him, and how tenderly he is affected to- 
ward thee. It will quicken thy desires after him, 
when thou art once sure ot thy interest in him. It is 
the most excellent fountain of continual rejoicing, Hab. 
iii. 17-19. It will confirm thy trust and confidence in 
God in the greatest straits. Psalm xlvi. It will fill thy 
rt with thankfulness, and raise thee high in the de- 
lightful work of praise. It will be a most excellent 
help to a heavenly mind. It will exceedingly tend to 
thy persev< ranee in grace. He that is sure of the 
crown will hold on to the end, when others will be 
tired, and give up through discouragement. 

All these blessed effects of assurance would make 
thy life a kind of heaven on earth. Seeing then that 
examination of our state is the way to this assurance, 
and the means without which God does not usually 
bestow it, — does it not concern us to engage in this 
searching work ? 



SECTION IV. 

Directions for Self-Examination. 

I proceed, fourthly, to give you some directions for 
self-examination. 

I. Form not too peremptory conclusions concerning 
yourselves beforehand. Do not judge too confidently 
before you try. Many godly dejected souls come to 
the work prejudging themselves, concluding that 
their state is miserable before they have tried it ; and 
most wicked men, on the other hand, conclude most 
confidently that their state is good, or at least tole- 
rable. No wonder if these both miscarry in judging, 
when they pass the sentence before the trial. 

II. Be sure to be so well acquainted with the Scrip- 
ture, as to know what are sound marks by which to 
try thyself, and wherein the truth of grace, and essence 
of the Christian character, consist. And it will be 



14 



^ 



162 DIRECTIONS FOR SELF-EXAMINATION. 

useful to write out some of the chief, and particularly 
those Scriptures which hold them forth, when you 
proceed to examine yourself. 

III. Be a constant observer of the temper and mo- 
tions of thy heart. Almost all the difficulty of the 
work consists in the true and clear discerning of this. 
Be watchful in observing the actings both of grace and 
corruption, and the circumstances of their actings ; as 
how frequent they are, how violent, how strong or 
weak were the outward incitements, how great or 
small the impediments, what delight, or loathing, or 
fear, or reluctance, accompany these acts. By these 
and similar observations, you may come to a more ac- 
curate knowledge of yourselves. 

IV. Be sure you engage in the work with a serious, 
awakened soul, apprehensive of how great importance 
it is. 

V. Resolve to judge thyself impartially, neither bet- 
ter nor worse than thou art, but as the evidence shall 
prove thee. 

VI. Empty thy mind of all other cares and thoughts, 
that they may not distract or divide thy soul. This 
work will of itself be enough at once, without connect- 
ing others with it. 

VII. Then fall down before God, and in hearty 
prayer desire the assistance of his Spirit, to discover 
to thee the reality of thy condition, and to enlighten 
thee in the whole progress of the work. 

VIII. Make choice of the most convenient time 
and place. 1. Let the place be private, that you may 
be free from distractions. 2. Choose a time when 
you are at leisure, and have nothing to interrupt you. 
You cannot cast up accounts, especially of such a 
nature as these, either in a crowd of company, or of 
employment. 3. If possible, let it be the present time, 
especially if thou hast been a stranger hitherto to the 
work. There should be no delaying in a matter of 
such weight. 4. Beware, especially, of delaying, 
when you have a special call to search yourselves; as 
before the sacrament, in times of public calamities, or 
of sickness, when God is trying you by some affliction, 



DIRECTIONS FOR SELF-EXAMINATION. 163 

and, as .lob says, is searching after your sin; then 
rch alter it yourselves. Lastly, you should spe- 
cially choo.se a time when you are most lit for the 
work, when you are not secure and stupid, on the one 
hand, nor yet under deep desertion or melancholy, on 
the other: for else you will be unfit judges ol' your 
own state. 

IX. Proceed, then, to put the question to thyself; 
but be sure to state it right Let it not be, whether 
there be any good in thee at all; for so thou wilt err 
on the one hand : nor yet, whether thou have such or 
such a measure of grace ; for so thou wilt err on the 
other hand. But, whether such or such a saving 
grace be in thee at all, in sincerity, or not ? 

X. If thy heart draw back, and be loath to the work, 
sutler it not so to give thee the slip ; but force it on. 
Lay thy command upon it; let reason interpose, and 
use its authority ; look over the foregoing arguments, 
and press them home upon it : yea. lay the command 
of God upon it, and charge it to obey on pain of 
his displeasure. Set conscience to work also ; let it do 
its office till thy lazy heart be spurred up to the work ; 
for if thou suffer it to break away once and again, it 
will grow so headstrong, that thou wilt not be able to 
master it. 

XI. Let not thy heart trifle aw r ay the time, when it 
should be diligently at the work. Put the question to 
it seriously, Is it thus and thus with me, or no ? Force 
it to give an answer ; suffer it not to be silent, nor to 
think of other matters. If the question be hard, 
through the darkness of thy heart, yet do not, on this 
account, give it over, but search the closer, and study 
the case more exactly : and if it be possible, let not 
thy heart give over till it has resolved the question, 
and told thee in what case thou art. Do as David, 
when he said, " My spirit made diligent search." If 
thy heart strive to break away before thou art re- 
solved, wrestle with it till thou hast prevailed, and 
say, " I will not let thee go, till thou hast answered." 
He that can prevail with his own heart, will also 
prevail with God. 



I I 1 DIRECTIONS FOR SELF-EXAMINATION. 

XII. If thou find the work beyond thy strength, 
then seek for help from others. Go to some godly, 
experienced, able, faithful Christian, and tell him thy 

case, and desire his best advice. Not that any can 
Know thy heart so well as thyself ; but if thou deal 
faithfully, and tell him what thou knowest of thyself, 
he can tell thee whether it be sound evidence or not, 
and show thee Scripture how to prove it so; and 
direct thee in the ' right use of such evidence; and 
show thee what to conclude from it. But be sure thou 
do not make this a pretence to neglect or delay thy 
awn duty of examining thyself; but only use it as 
one of the last remedies, when thou findest thy own 
endeavours will not serve. Neither be thou forward 
to open thy case to every one, or to a carnal, flattering, 
unskilful person ; but to one that has prudence to con- 
ceal thy secrets, tenderness to compassionate thee, skill 
to direct thee, and faithfulness to deal truly and plainly 
with thee. 

Mil. When by these means thou hast discovered 
the truth of thy state, then pass sentence on thyself 
according to the nature of thy discovery. A mere 
examination will do thee little good, if it proceed not 
to a judgment. Conclude as thou findest, either that 
thou art a true believer, or that thou art not. But 
pass not sentence on thyself rashly, or with self-flat- 
tery, or from melancholy fears and terrors ; but do it 
deliberately, and truly, as thou findest, according to 
thy conscience. Do not conclude, as some do, " I am 
a Christian ;" or, as others do, "I am a reprobate, or 
an hypocrite, and shall be damned ;" when thou hast 
no ground for what thou sayest, but thy own fancy, 
or hopes, or fears; nay when thou mayest be convinced 
by Scripture and reason of the contrary, and hast 
nothing to say against the arguments. Let not thy 
judgment be any way biassed, or bribed, or fore- 
stalled from pronouncing a just sentence. 

XIV. Labour to get thy heart deeply affected with 
its condition, according to the sentence passed on it. 
Do not think it enough to know, but labour to feel, 
what God has made thee see. If thou find thyself 



DIRECTIONS FOR 81 LF-KX AMIXATIOX. IAS 

graceless, () get this impressed on thy heart Think 
what a doleful condition it is to he an enenrj of God, 
to he unpardoned and unsanctified,and it' thou shouldst 
so die, to be eternally damned ! One would think 

such a thought should make a heart of stone quake ! 
On the contrary, if thou find thyself renewed and 
sanctified, bring this home to thy heart. Bethink 
thyself, what a blessed state the Lord has brought 
thee into! To be his child! his friend! to be par- 
doned, justified, sanctified, and saved! What an in- 
conceivable mercy ! Why, what needest thou fear 
but sinning against him ? Come war, or plague, or 
sickness,- or death, thou art sure they can but thrust 
thee into heaven. 

XV. Be sure to record the sentence so passed. 
Write it down, or at least write X in thy memory : at 
such a time, upon thorough examination, I found my 
ttate to be thus or thus. This record will be very 
useful to thee hereafter. If thou be ungodly, what a 
damp will it be to thy presumption and security, to 
go and read the sentence of thy misery under thy own 
hand ! If thou be godly, what a help it will be 
against the next temptation to doubting and fear, to 
go and read under thy hand this record ! Mayest 
thou not think, If at such a time I found the truth of 
grace, is it not likely to be now the same, and that 
these doubts come from the enemy of my peace ? 

XVI. Yet would I not have thee so trust to one 
discovery, as to try no more ; especially if thou hast 
made any foul defection from Christ, and played 
the backslider. See then that thou renew the search 
again. 

XVII. Neither would I have this hinder thee in 
the daily search of thy ways, or of thy increase in 
grace and fellowship with Christ. It is an ill sign, and 
a vile sin, for a man, when he thinks he has found 
himself gracious, and in a happy state, to let down 
his watch, and grow negligent of his heart and ways, 
and scarcely look after them any more. 

XVIII. Neither would I have thee give over in 
discouragement, if thou canst not at once, or twice, or 



166 MARKS BY WHICH TO EXAMINE OURSELVES. 

ten times trying, discover thy case; but follow it on 
rill thou hast discovered If one hour's labour will 
not genre, take another. If one day, Of month, or 

yeax be too little, follow it still. There should be no 
sitting down discouraged in a work of so much impor- 
tance, and winch must be done. 

Lastly, above all take hoed, if thou find thyself to 
be yet tmregenerate, that thou do not conclude of thy 
future state by thy present; nor say, "Because I am 
ungodly, 1 shall die so ; or, because I am a hypocrite, 
I shall continue so." No, thou hast other work to do. 
Thou hast to resolve to break off thy hypocrisy and 
thy wickedness, and to flee to Christ without delay. 
If thou find thou hast been all this while out of the 
way, do not sit down in despair, but make so much 
the more haste to turn into it. If thou hast been an 
hypocrite, or an ungodly person all thy life, yet Christ 
still offers himself to be thy Lord and Saviour. Nei- 
ther canst thou possibly be so willing to accept of 
him, as he is to accept thee. Though thou hast 
hitherto abused him, and dissembled with him, yet 
has he not restrained his Spirit or promises to any set 
time ; or said to thee, " Thou shalt find grace, if thou 
sin but so much, or so long." If thou be heartily 
willing at any time, I know not who can hinder thy 
happiness ; yet this is no diminution of the sin or dan- 
ger of delaying. 



SECTION V. 

Marks by ivhich to examine Ourselves. 

Having thus given you some directions for self-exa- 
mination, I shall proceed, lastly, to point out some 
marks by which you may try your title to the heavenly 
rest. 

I. Every soul that has a title to this rest, places his 
chief happiness in it, and makes it the great and ulti- 
mate end of his being. This is the first mark ; and it 
is so plain a truth, that I need not prove it ; for this 






MARKS BY WHICH TO i:\AMINK OURSELVES. Ih7 

is in the full and glorious enjoyment o\' God; 
and be that makes not God his chief good, and ulti- 
mate end, is in heart an idolater, and docs not take 
the Lord for his God. 

Let me, then, ask thee, Dost thou truly in judgment 
and affection, account it thy chief happiness to enjoy 
the Lord in glory, or dost thou not? Canst thou say 
With David, u The Lord is the portion of mine inheri- 
tance, and of my cup?" And again, " Whom have I 
ill heaven hut thee ? and there is none upon earth that 
I desire besides thee?" h thou be an heir of heavenly 
rest, it is thus with thee. Though the ilesh will be 
pleading for its own delights, and the world will be 
creeping into thine affections, and thou canst not be 
quite freed from the love of it ; yet in thy ordinary, 
settled, prevailing judgment and affections, thou wilt 
prefer God before all things in the world. 

1. Thou makest him the end of thy desires and 
endeavours. The reason why thou hearest and prayest, 
why thou desirest to live and breathe on earth is 
chiefly this, that thou mayest seek the Lord, and make 
sure of thy everlasting rest. Thou " seekest first the 
kingdom of God, and his righteousness." Though 
thou dost not seek it so earnestly and zealously as thou 
shouldst, yet is it the chief object of thy desires and 
endeavours ; and nothing else is desired or preferred 
before it, " for where your treasure is, there will your 
heart be also." 

2. Thou wilt think no labour or suffering too great 
to obtain it ; and, though the flesh may sometime 
shrink or draw back, yet art thou resolved and content 
to go through all ; Matt. vii. 13 ; Luke xiv. 26, 27. 

3. If thou be an heir of everlasting rest, thy valua- 
tion of it will be so high, and thy affection to it so 
great, that thou wouldst not exchange thy title to it, 
and thy hopes of it, for any worldly good whatsoever. 
Indeed, when the soul is in doubts of enjoying it, per- 
haps it may rather desire the continuance of an earthly 
happiness, than to depart out of the body with fears 
of going to hell. But if he were sure that heaven 



1GS 



MARKS DV WHICH TO EXAMINE OURSELVES. 



would l)e his own, he would "desire to depart and to 
be with Christ," as being "far better." 

^But if thou be yet unconverted and unsanctified, then 
is it quite the contrary with thee in ail these respects- 
then dost thou in thy heart prefer thy worldly happi- 
ness and thy fleshly delights before God; and though 
thy tongue may say, that God is the chief good, vet 
thy heart does not so esteem him. For, 

(1.) The world is the chief object of thy desires and 
endeavours. Thy very heart is set upon it ; thv 
greatest care and labour is to maintain thy estate or 
credit or fleshly delights. But the life to come has 
little of thy care or labour. Thou didst never per- 
ceive so much excellency in the unseen srlorv of an- 
other world, as to draw thy heart after it, or set thee 
o labour assiduously for it. God has but the world's 
leavings ; he has merely that time and labour which 
thou canst spare from the world, or those few cold and 
careless thoughts which follow thy constant, earnest, 
delightful thoughts of earthly things. 

(2.) Therefore it is that thou thinkest the wav of 
God too strict, and wilt not be persuaded to the con- 
stant labour of conscientiously walking according to 
the gospel rule ; and when it comes to this, that thou 

wTrfr? ChnSt 1 ° r ? y WOrldl y ha PPiness, thou 
wilt risk heaven rather than earth. 

ho ( ?j If ?° d T? U l d but § ive thee leave ^ live in 
health and wealth for ever on earth, thou wouldst 
think it a better state than this everlasting rest 

il. Hie second mark which I shall give thee to try 
whether thou be an heir of everlasting rest, is this 
As thou takest God for thy chief good, sS " thou lost' 
heartily accept of Christ for thy only Saviour and Lord 
to bring thee to this rest." The former mark is the 
sum of the first and great command of the law, "Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart " or 
above all. This latter mark is the sun/of the' firs 
and great command of the gospel, "Believe in the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." And 
the performance of these two is the whole sum or 



MARKS BY WHICH TO EXAMINE OURSZLVB8. L69 

essence of godliness and Christianity. Observe, there- 
fore, the several parts of this mark. 

1. Dost thou feel that thou art a lost condemned 
creature, in consequence of sin ? And dost thou be- 
lieve that Jesus Christ has made a suilicicnt satisfac- 
tion to the law? Dost thou heartily consent that he 
shall he thy Saviour, renounce all trust in thy works 
and duties, as a ground of thy acceptance, and build 
thy hopes of salvation on the righteousness of Christ 
Jesus, and on it alone ? 

2. Art thou content to take him for thy only Lord 
and King, to govern and guide thee by his laws and 
Spirit, and to obey him even when he commands the 
hardest duties, and those which cross most the desires 
of the ilesh ? And though the world and the flesh do 
sometimes entice and overreach thee, yet is it thy 
ordinary desire and resolution to obey him, so that 
thou wouldst not change thy Lord and Master for all 
the world ? Thus it is with every true Christian. 

But if thou be a hypocrite, it is far otherwise with 
thee. Thou mayest call Christ thy Saviour and thy 
Lord, but thou never foundest thyself so lost without 
him, as to drive thee to seek him, and trust him, and 
lay thy salvation on him alone. Or, at least, thou 
didst never heartily consent that he should govern 
thee as thy Lord ; nor resign up thy soul to be ruled 
by him ; nor take his word for the law of thy thoughts 
and actions. It is likely thou art content to be saved 
from hell by Christ when thou diest : but in the mean- 
time he shall command thee no further than will con- 
sist with thy worldly estate, or honour, or pleasure. 
And if he would give thee leave, thou wouldst far 
rather live after the world and the flesh, than after the 
word and the Spirit. 

But especially I would have you observe, that in all 
this it is the consent of your hearts or wills, which 
you are to inquire after ; for that is the most essential 
act of justifying faith. I do not therefore ask, whether 
thou be assured of salvation ; or whether thou be- 
lievest that thy sins are pardoned, and that thou art 
beloved of God in Christ. These are no parts of jus- 

15 



170 REASONS OF THE 

tifying faith ; but excellent fruits of it, and they that 
receive, are comforted by them ; but perhaps thou 
mayest never receive them while thou livest, and yet 
be a true heir of everlasting rest. Do not say, thei\ 
" I cannot believe that my sins are pardoned, or that 
I am in God's favour, and therefore I am not a true 
believer." This is a most mistaken conclusion. The 
question is, whether thou dost heartily accept of 
Christ, that thou mayest be pardoned, reconciled to 
God, and so saved ? Dost thou heartily consent that 
he who bought thee shall be thy Lord, and take his 
own course to bring thee to heaven ? This is justify- 
ing saving faith ; and this is the mark thou must try 
thyself by. 

Thus I have laid down these two marks, which I 
am sure are such as every Christian has, and none but 
sincere Christians. that the Lord would now per- 
suade thee to the close performance of this self-trying 
task, — that thou mayest not tremble with horror of 
soul when the Judge of all the world shall try thee ; 
but have thy evidence and assurance so ready at hand, 
that the approach of death and judgment may revive 
thy spirits, and fill thee with joy, and not appal thee, 
and fill thee with amazement ! 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE REASONS OF THE SAINTS' AFFLICTIONS ON 

EARTH. 

Use Fourth. — The present doctrine teaches us why 
the people of God suffer so much affliction in this life. 
They are not yet come to their resting place. It is 
still in reserve. We would all fain have continual 
prosperity, because it is easy and pleasing to the flesh ; 
but we consider not the unreasonableness of such de- 
sires. We are like children, who if they see any 
thing their appetite desires, cry for it ; and if you tell 



saints' afflictions on earth. 171 

them that it is unwholesome, or hurtful for them, they 
are never the more quieted ; or if you go about to heal 
any son 4 fh&f have, they cannot bear you should pain 

them, though you tell them you cannot otherwise cure 
them. Their sense is too strong for their reason ; and 
therefore reason little persuades them. Even so it is 
with us, when God afflicts us. He gives us reasons 
why we should bear them; so that our reason is con- 
vinced, and yet we cry and complain as much as 
ever. It is not reason, but ease that we must have. 
What cares the flesh for argument, if it still suffer and 
smart ? But methinks Christians should have another 
palate than that of the flesh, to try and relish provi- 
dences by. God has purposely given them the Spirit 
to subdue and over-rule the flesh. And therefore I 
shall here give them some reasons of God's dealings 
in their present sufferings, whereby the equity and 
mercy thereof may appear. 

I. Consider that labour and trouble are the ordinary 
way to rest, both in the course of nature and of grace. 
The day for labour goes first, and then the night for 
rest follows. Why should we desire the course of 
grace to be perverted, any more than the course of 
nature, seeing the one is as perfect and regular as the 
other ? It is the established decree, " That through 
much tribulation we must enter the kingdom ;" and 
what are we that God's statutes should be reversed 
for our pleasure ? 

II. Consider that afflictions are exceedingly useful 
to us, to keep us from mistaking our resting place. 
The most dangerous mistake that our souls are capa- 
ble of, is to take the creature for God, and earth for 
heaven. And yet, alas, how common is this ! and in 
how great a degree are the best guilty of it ! Though 
Ave are ashamed to speak so with our tongues, yet 
how oft do we say in our hearts, " It is good to be 
here !" Alas, how apt are we, like foolish children, 
when we are busy at our sports and worldly employ- 
ments, to forget both our Father and our home ! 
Hence it is a hard thing for a rich man to enter into 
heaven, because it is hard for him to value it more 



172 



REASONS OF THE 



than his Wealth. Go to a man that has the world at 
Will, and tell him, " This is not your happiness; you 
have higher things to look after," and how little wilJ 
he regard yon ! But when affliction comes, it speaks 
convincingly, and will be heard when preachers can- 
not. What warm, affectionate, eager thoughts have 
we of the world, till affliction cool them, and moderate 
them ! J Tow few and cold would be our thoughts of 
h< aven, — how little would we care for coming thither, 
if God would give us rest on earth ! 

III. Consider that afflictions are a powerful means 
to keep us from wandering out of the way to our rest. 
If God had not set a hedge of thorns on the right hand, 
and another on the left, we would hardly keep the 
way to heaven. If there be but one gap open with- 
out these thorns, how ready are we to find it, and 
turn out at it ! But when we cannot go astray with- 
out these thorns pricking us, perhaps we will be con- 
tent to hold on our way. When we grow fleshly, or 
wanton, or worldly, or proud, what a powerful means 
is sickness or other affliction to reduce us ! Every 
Christian as well as Luther, may call affliction one of 
his best schoolmasters. Many, as well as David, may 
say by experience, " Before I was afflicted I went 
astray ; but now have I kept thy word." When we 
have prosperity, we grow secure and sinful: then 
God afflicts us, and, like Israel of old, we cry for 
mercy, and purpose reformation. But after we have 
a little rest, we do evil again, till God take up the 
rod again, that he may bring us back to his law. 
And thus prosperity and sinning, suffering and re- 
penting, deliverance and sinning again, do run all in a 
round. 

IV. Consider that afflictions are a powerful means 
to make us quicken our pace in the way to our rest. 
They are God's rod and spur. What sluggard will 
not awake and stir when he feels them ? It were well 
if mere love would prevail with us, and that we were 
rather drawn to heaven than driven ; but seeing our 
hearts are bo bad that mercy will not do it, it is better 
that we be quickened by the sharpest scourge, than 



saints' afflictions on EARTH. 173 

that we loiter out our time till the door is shut O 
what a difference is there between our prayers in 
health and in sickness; between our prosperity and 
dur adversity repentings ! He that before had not a 

to shed, or a groan to utter, now can sob, and 
siL r h, and weep bitterly. If we did not sometimes 
Smart by affliction, ho w dead would be the hearts of 
the best men ! Even innocent Adam is likelier to 
t God in a paradise, than Joseph in a prison, or 
Job upon a dunghill. Solomon fell in the midst of 
pleasure and prosperity; while wicked Manasseh was 
recovered in his irons. Dr. Stoughton says, "We are 
like children's tops, that will go but little longer than 
they are whipt." Seeing, then, that our own vile 
natures do thus require it, why should we be unwill- 
ing that God should do us good by so sharp a means? 
V. Consider that, for the most part, it is only the 
flesh which is troubled and grieved by affliction. And 
what reason have we to be so tender of it ? In most 
of our sufferings the soul is free, except so far as we 
wilfully afflict it ourselves. Suppose thou be pinched 
by poverty ; it is thy flesh only that is pinched. If 
thou have sicknesses, it is but thy flesh that they as- 
sault. If thou die, it is but the flesh that shall rot in 
the grave. And what if it be broken down ? Is it 
not our enemy, yea, and the greatest that ever we 
had? And are we so fearful lest it be overthrown? 
Is it not it that has so long clogged our souls, and 
tied them to earth, and enticed them to forbidden 
lusts and pleasures, and stolen away our hearts from 
God ? If we behold our food, it entices us to glut- 
tony ; if drink, to drunkenness ; if apparel, or any thing 
of worth, to pride. If we look upon beauty, it entices 
to lust ; if upon money or possessions, to covetousness. 
Alas ! for our carnality and unbelief, which are so 
contradictory to the principles of Christianity ! Surely 
God deals the worse with this flesh, because we so 
overvalue and idolize it. We make it the greatest 
part of our care and labour chiefly to provide for it, 
and to satisfy its desires ; but as he has commanded 
us to " make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil the 

15* 



174 REASONS OF THE 

lusts thereof; so will he follow this rule himself, in 
his dealings with us; and will not refrain from dis- 
pleasing the flesh, when it may honour himself or 
profit our souls. There is, therefore, no likelihood 
that God's dealings will be more pleasing to the flesh, 
than that its works will be pleasing to God. Never 
expect, then, that the flesh should truly expound the 
meaning of the rod. It will call love, hatred ; and say, 
God is destroying, when he is saving ; and murmur, 
as if he did thee wrong, and used thee hardly, when 
he is showing thee the greatest mercy. 

Lastly ) God seldom gives his people so sweet a 
foretaste of their future rest, as in their deep afflictions. 
He keeps his most precious cordials for the time of 
our greatest faintings and dangers. To give them to 
such as are well, and need them not, would be but to 
cast them away. The joys of heaven are of unspeak- 
able sweetness ; but a man that overflows with earthly 
delights, is scarcely capable of perceiving their sweet- 
ness. You may more easily comfort the most dejected 
soul, than him that feels not any need of comfort, as 
being full of other comforts already. Even the best 
saints seldom taste of the delights of God, pure, spiritual, 
unmixed joys, in the time of their prosperity, as they 
do in their deepest troubles. God is not so lavish of 
his favours as to bestow them unseasonably. Even 
to his own, will he give them at a fit time, when he 
knows they are needful, and will be valued ; when he 
is sure to be thanked for them, and his people rejoiced 
by them. Especially, when our sufferings are more 
directly for his cause, then he seldom fails of sweeten- 
ing the bitter cup. Therefore have the martyrs been 
possessors of the highest joys, and therefore were they 
in former times so ambitious of martyrdom. I ques- 
tion if Paul and Silas did ever sing more joyfully, than 
when they were thrust into the inner prison, and when 
their backs were sore with scourgings, and their feet 
were made fast in the stocks. When did Stephen see 
heaven opened, but when he was giving up his life 
for the testimony of Jesus ? And though we may 
never be put to the suffering of martyrdom, yet God 



i 



SAINTS' afflictions on earth. 1 7/3 

aiiows that in our natural sufferings we need support 
and comfort Many a Christian thai has waited for 
Christ, like Simeon in the temple, in duty and holiness 

all his clays, yet never finds him in his arms till he is 
dying, though his love was fixed in his heart before : 
and they that wondered that they tasted not of his 
comforts, have then, when it was needful, received 
abundance. 

Hut let us hear a little what it is that the flesh can 
object. 

Objection 1. Oh, says one, I could bear any other 
affliction but this. If God had touched me in any 
thing else, I could have undergone it patiently ; but 
it is my dearest friend, or child, or wife, or my health 
that sutlers. 

Answer. It seems God has hit the right vein, where 
thy most inflamed distempered blood did lie. It is his 
constant course to pull down men's idols, and to take 
away that which is dearer to them than himself. 
There it is that his jealousy is kindled ; and there it is 
that thy soul is most endangered. If God had taken 
from thee that which thou canst let go for him, and 
not that which thou canst not ; or had afflicted thee 
where thou canst bear it, and not where thou canst 
not, thy idol would neither have been discovered, nor 
removed. This would neither have been a sufficient 
trial to thee, nor a cure. 

Objection 2. Oh, says another, if God would but 
deliver me out of it at last, I could be content to bear 
it : but I have an incurable sickness ; or I am likely 
to live and die in poverty, or disgrace, or the like 
distress. 

Answer 1. Is it nothing that he has promised, it 
shall "work for thy good;" and that with the afflic- 
tion he will " make a way to escape" that he will 
be with thee in it, and deliver thee in the fittest 
manner and season ? 

2. Is it not enough that thou art sure to be deliv- 
ered at death, and that with so full a deliverance ? 
Oh, what cursed unbelief does this discover in our 
hearts that we would be more thankful to be turned 



176 REASONS OF THE 



back again into the stormy tumultuous sea of the 
world, than to be safely and speedily landed at our 
rest, and would be more glad of a few years' inferior 
merries ;it a distance, than to enter immediately upon 
the eternal inheritance with Christ ! Do we call God 
our chief good, and Heaven our principal happiness? 
And yet is it no mercy or deliverance to be taken 
hence, and put into that possession? 

Objection 3. Oh, says another, if my affliction did 
not disable me for duty, I could bear it ; but it makes 
me useless and utterly unprofitable. 

Answer 1. For that duty which tends to thy own 
personal benefit, it does not disable thee, but it is the 
greatest quickening help thou couldst expect. Thou 
usest to complain of coldness, and dulness, and world- 
liness, and security. If affliction will not help thee 
against all these, by warning, quickening, rousing thy 
spirit, 1 know not what will. 

2. As for duty to others, and service to the church, 
it is not thy duty when God disables thee. He may 
call thee out of the vineyard in this respect, even be- 
fore he call thee away by death. If he lay thee in the 
grave, and put others in thy place to do the service, 
is this any wrong to thee ? or does it become thee to 
repine at it ? Must God do all the work by thee ? 
Has he not many others as dear to him, and as fit for 
the employment? But alas, what deceitfulness is 
there in our hearts ! When we have time, and health, 
and opportunity to work, then we loiter, and do our 
Master but very poor service. But when he lays 
affliction upon us, then we complain that he disables 
us for his work, and yet perhaps we are still negligent 
in that part of the work which we can do. So, when 
we are in health and prosperity, Ave forget our public 
duty, and are careless of other men's miseries and 
wants, and mind almost nothing but ourselves ; but 
when God afflicts us, though he excite us more to 
duty for ourselves, yet we complain that he disables 
us lor our duty to others. As if all of a sudden we 
were grown so charitable, that we regard other men's 
souls far more than our own ! But "is not the hand 



saint's affliction on earth. 177 

of the flesh in all this dissimulation, secretly pleading 
its own cause ? 

Objection 4. Oh, says another, it is the godly that 

afflict, disclaim, censure and slander m<\ and look 
upon me with a disdainful eye. If it were ungodly 
men, 1 could easily bear it; I look for no hotter at 
their hands: but when those that were my delight, are 
as thorns in my sides, how can I bear it? 

Answer l. Whoever is the instrument, the affliction 
is from Grod, and the provoking cause from thyself; 
and were it not fitter, then, that thou look more to 
God and thyself? 

& Dost thou not know, that the best men are still 
sinful in part; and that their hearts are naturally 
deceitful, and desperately wicked, as well as others ? 
And this being but imperfectly cured, so far as they 
are fleshly, the fruits of the flesh will appear in them, 
which are, " strife, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, 
seditions, heresies, envyings." So far, the best of 
them is as a brier, and the most upright of them 
sharper than a thorny hedge. Learn, therefore, to 
look less to men, and more to God. Perhaps thou 
hast given that love and confidence to saints, which 
were due only to God, and then no wonder if he 
chastise thee by them. If Ave would use our friends 
as friends, God would make them our helps and com- 
forts; but when once we make them our gods, by- 
excessive love, delight, and trust, then he suffers them 
to prove adversaries to us, and to be our accusers and 
tormentors. I confess it is a pity that saints should 
suffer from saints ; and it is quite contrary to their 
holy nature, and their Master's laws, who has left 
them his peace, and made love to be the characteristic 
of his disciples, and to be the first, and great, and new 
commandment. I know that there is much difference* 
between them and the world in this respect. But yet, 
as I said before, they are saints only in part, and 
therefore Paul and Barnabas may so fall out as to 
part asunder ; and upright Asa may imprison the 
prophet. Call it persecution, or what you please. 
And know also that thy own nature is as bad as 






178 the saint's affliction on earth. 

theirs ; and thou art as likely to be thyself a grief to 
others. 

Objection 5. Oh, if I had but that consolation, 
which you say God reserves for our suffering times, I 
would sull'er more contentedly; but I do not enjoy 
any sucii thing. 

Answer 1. The more you suffer for righteousness' 
sake the more of this blessing you may expect ; and 
the more you suffer for your own evil doing, the 
longer you may expect to wait till that sweetness 
come. When we have by our folly provoked God to 
chastise us, shall we look that he should immediately 
fill us with comfort ? That were to make affliction to 
be no affliction. 

2. Do you not neglect or overlook the comforts 
which you desire ? God has filled precepts and pro- 
mises, and other of his providences, with matter of 
comfort. If you will overlook all these, and make 
nothing of them, and always pore upon your suffer- 
ings, and observe one cross more than a thousand 
mercies, — who makes you uncomfortable but your- 
selves ? 

3. Have your afflictions wrought kindly with you, 
and fitted you for comfort ? Have they humbled 
you, and brought you to a faithful confession and 
reformation of your beloved sins, and made you set 
close to the performance of your neglected duties, and 
weaned your hearts from their former idols, and 
brought you unfeignedly to take God for your portion 
and your rest ? If this be not done, how can you 
expect comfort ? Should God bind up the sore while 
it yet festers at the bottom ? It is not mere suffering 
that prepares you for comfort ; but the fruit of suffer- 
ing being produced in your hearts. 



EXPECTATIONS OF REST ON EARTH. 179 



CHAPTER V. 

REPAYING OUR EXPECTATIONS OF REST ON EARTH. 

Use Fifth. — Does this rest remain for us ? How 
it then is our sin and folly, to seek and expect it 
frere ? Where shall we find the Christian that de- 
serves not this reproof? Surely we may all cry guilty 
to this accusation. We know not how to enjoy con- 
venient houses, lands, and revenues, but we seek rest 
in these enjoyments. We seldom, I fear, have such 
sweet and heart-contenting thoughts of God and glory, 
as we have of our earthly delights. Nay, we can 
scarcely enjoy the necessary means which God has 
appointed for our spiritual good, but we begin to seek 
rest in them. This, indeed, we disclaim in words, and 
God has usually the pre-eminence in our tongues and 
professions ; but it is too apparent by the following 
symptoms, that it is otherwise in our hearts. 

1. Do we not desire these more vehemently when 
we are without them, than we do the Lord himself? 
Do we not cry out more sensibly, my friend, my 
property, my health, than, my God ? Do we not 
miss the ministry, and other means of grace, more 
passionately than we miss our God ? Do we not bestir 
ourselves more to obtain and enjoy these, than we do 
to recover communion with God ? 

2. Do we not delight more in the possession of 
these, than we do in the fruition of God himself? 
Nay, are not those mercies and duties most pleasant 
to us, wherein we stand at the greatest distance from 
God ? We can read, and study, and confer, and 
preach, and hear, day after day, without much 
weariness, because in these we have to do with 
instruments and creatures ; but in secret prayer and 
conversing with God immediately, where no creature 



1 ^0 BEPKOVIXO OUR 

interposes, how dull, how heartless, how wearv 
are we ! ' 

3. If we lose creatures or means, does it not trouble 
us more than our loss of God? If we lose but a 
tnend, or health, or property, all the town will hear 
ol it ; but we can miss our God, and scarcely bemoan 
our misery. In order to impress your conscience 
with (lie evil of this sin, I would earnestly beseech 
you to reflect on the following considerations :— 

I. Consider, it is gross idolatry to make any crea- 
ture or means our rest. When we would have ah 
that out of God, which is to be had only in God 
what is this but to turn away from him to the crea- 
ture, and in our hearts to deny him ? When we 
extract more of our comfort and delight from the 
thoughts of prosperity, and of those mercies which 
here we have at a distance from God, than from the 
forethoughts of our everlasting blessedness in him • 
nay, when the thought of that day when we must 
come to God, is our greatest trouble, and we would 
do any thing m the world to escape it, while our en- 
joyment of creatures, though absent from him, is the 
very thing our souls desire j when we would rather 
talk ol him, than come to enjoy him, and would 
rather go many miles to hear a powerful sermon of 
Christ and heaven, than enter heaven and possess it, 
— 0, what vile idolatry is this ! When we dispute 
against infidels, how earnestly do we contend, that 
God is the chief good, and the fruition of him our 
chief happiness ! What clear arguments do we brin* 
to evince it ! But do we believe it ourselves ? If V e 
yourselves had a wife, a husband, or a son, that had 
rather be any where than in your company, and is 
never so happy as when furthest from you, would 
you not take it ill ? Why so must our God needs do 
For what do we but lay these things in one end of 
the balance, and God in the other, and foolishly prefer 
them before him ? ' * • 

II. Consider how you thereby contradict the end 
of God in giving you these blessings. He gave them 
to help thee to him, and dost thou take up with them 



EXPECTATIONS OF REST ON EARTH. 181 

m his stead? He gave them that they might be com- 
fortable refreshments to thee in thy journey; and 
wouldst thou new dwell at thy inn, and go no further? 
Thou dosl not only contradict God herein, but thou 
si that benefit which thou mightest receive by 
them, yea, and niakest them thy great hurt and 
hinderance. 

III. Consider whether this is not a probable way to 
cause God either, first, to deny us those mercies which 
we desire ; or, secondly, to take from us those which 
we enjoy ; or, thirdly, to embitter them, or even curse 
them to us. God is nowhere so jealous as here. It 
has long been my observation, that when persons 
have attempted great works, and have just finished 
them ; or have aimed at great things in the world, and 
have just obtained them ; or have lived in much trou- 
ble and unsettlement, and have just overcome them, 
and begin to look with some content upon their con- 
dition, and to rest in it, they are usually near to death 
or ruin. You know the story of the fool in the gospel. 
When a man once uses this language, " Soul, take thy 
ease or rest/' the next news usually is, " Thou fool, 
this night, or this month, or this year, shall thy soul 
be required of thee, and then whose shall those things 
be which thou hast provided ?' 0, what house is 
there, where this fool dwelleth not ! 

IV. Consider if God should suffer thee to take up 
thy rest on earth, it would be one of the severest 
plagues and greatest curses that could possibly befal 
thee. It were better for thee never to have had a day 
of ease or content in the world, for then weariness 
might have made thee seek after the true rest. But 
if he should suffer thee to sit down and rest here, 
where will thy rest be when this deceives thee ? 

V. Consider thou seekest rest where it is not to be 
found, and so wilt lose all thy labour ; and if thou 
proceed in this course, thy soul's eternal rest too. This 
will appear from the following considerations. 

1. Our rest consists in the full attainment of our 
ultimate end ; but that is not to be expected in this 
xife 5 therefore, neither is rest to be here expected. Is 

16 



182 REPROVING OUR 

God to be enjoyed in the best reformed church, in the 
purest and most powerful ordinances here, as ne is in 
heaven ? I know you will confess he is not. How 
little of God, not only the multitude of the blind world, 
but sometimes the saints themselves enjoy, even under 
the most excellent means, let their own frequent com- 
plainings testify, And how poor comforters are the 
best ordinances and enjoyments, without God, the 
truly spiritual Christian knows. Should a traveller 
take up his rest in the way? No, because his home 
is his journey's end. When you have all that crea- 
tures and means can afford, have you that which you 
sought for ? I think you dare not say so. Why, then, 
do we once dream of resting here ? 

2. As we have not yet obtained our end, so we are 
in the midst of labours and dangers ; and is there any 
resting here ? What painful work lies upon our 
hands ! Look to our brethren, to the godly, to the 
ungodly, to the church, to our own souls, to God ; and 
what a deal of work, in respect of each of these, lies 
before us ! And can we rest in the midst of all our 
labours ? We may, indeed, take some refreshing, and 
ease ourselves in the midst of our troubles. We may 
rest on earth, as the ark is said to have rested in the 
midst of Jordan ; or as the angels, when they turned 
in, and rested themselves in Abraham's tent, but yet 
they would have been loath to take up their dwelling 
there. Should a soldier rest in the midst of battle, 
when he is in the thickest of his enemies, and the in- 
struments of death compass him about? I think he 
cares not how soon the conflict is over ; and though 
he may adventure upon war for the sake of obtaining 
peace, yet he is not so mad as to take that instead of 
peace. And are not Christians such soldiers? Have 
you not fears within, and troubles without ? Are we 
not continually in the thickest dangers? I read, 
indeed, that Peter on the mount, when he had a 
glimpse of glory said, " It is good for us to be here ;" 
but surely, when he was on the sea, in the midst of 
waves, he did not say, " It is good to te here." No, 
then he had other language, " Save, master, we 



EXPECTATIONS OF REST OX EARTH. 1S3 

perish. ^ And eves his desires to rest on the mount, 
are represented in Scripture as arising from ignorance: 

<* He knew not what he said/' Methinks it should be 
ill resting in the midst of sicknesses and pains, perse- 
cutions and distresses : one would think it should he 
no suitable dwelling for lambs to be among wolves. 

Tlit> wicked have some slender pretence Tor their sin 
in this respect. They are among their friends, in the 
midst of their portion, enjoying all the happiness they 
are ever likely to enjoy. But it is not so with the 
godly. 1 say, therefore, to everyone that thinks of rest 
on earth, as Micah, k * Arise ye, depart, this is not your 
rest, because it is polluted." 

3. The nature of earthly things may convince you, 
that they cannot be a Christian's rest. They are too 
poor to make us rich ; too empty to fill our souls ; too 
base to make us blessed ; and of too short continuance 
to be our eternal felicity. That which is the soul's 
rest, must be sufficient to afford it perpetual satisfac- 
tion ; but all things below delight us only with fresh 
variety. The content which any creature affords, 
abates after a short enjoyment. One recreation pleases 
not long ; we must have a supply of new delights, or 
they will languish ; nay, our pleasure in our society 
and friendship, especially if carnal, is strongest while 
fresh. All creatures are to us, as the flowers to the 
bee ; there is but little honey in any single flower, and 
therefore they must have fresh variety, and take of 
each a superficial taste, and so to the next. Yea, 
some have gone through a variety of states, and, after 
tasting of the pleasures of their own country, travel 
for fresh variety abroad ; and when they come home, 
they usually betake themselves to some solitary corner, 
and sit down, and cry with David, " I have seen an 
end of all perfection ;" or with Solomon, " All is vanity, 
and vexation of spirit." And can this be a place of 
rest for the soul ? 

4. If all this convince you not, consult with experi- 
ence, both other men's and your own. Many thou- 
sands and millions have made trial, but did ever one 
of them find a sufficient rest for his soul on this earth? 



1S4 REPROVING OUR 

Delights they have found, and imperfect temporary 
content ; but rest and satisfaction they never found. 
And shall we think to find that which never man 
could find before us? If we had conquered to our- 
selves the whole world, we should perhaps do as 
Alexander is said to have done, sit down and weep 
because there are no more worlds to conquer. If I 
should send you forth as Noah's dove, to go through 
the earth to look for a resting place, you would return 
with a confession that you could find none. Go, ask 
honour, Is there rest here ? Why, you may as well 
rest on the top of the tempestuous mountains. If you 
ask riches, Is there rest here ? Even such as in a bed 
of thorns ; or were it a bed of down, yet you must 
arise in the morning, and leave it to the next guest 
that shall succeed you. If you inquire of worldly 
pleasure and ease, Can you give me any tidings 
of rest ? Even such as the bird has in the net, 
or the fish in swallowing the deceitful bait. When 
the pleasure is sweetest, death is nearest. It is just 
such content and happiness as the exhilarating vapours 
of wine give to a man who is drunk. It causes a 
merry heart ; it makes him forget his wants and mise- 
ries, and conceive himself the happiest man in the world, 
till his sick vomitings have freed him of his disease, 
or sleep has dissipated the fumes that perverted his 
understanding, and then he awakes a more unhappy 
man than he was before. As the fancy may be de- 
lighted in a pleasant dream, when all the senses are 
overcome by sleep ; so may the flesh or sensitive appe- 
tite, when the reasonable soul has become captivated 
by security : but when the morning comes, the delu- 
sion vanishes, and where is then the pleasure and 
happiness? 

Or if you should go to learning, and even to the 
purest, most plentiful, most powerful ordinances, or 
compass sea and land to find out the most perfect 
church, and holiest saints, and inquire whether there 
your soul may rest, — you may indeed receive from 
these an olive branch of hope, as they are means to 
your rest, and have relation to eternity ; but in regard 



UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE. KS5 

to any satisfaction in themselves, you would remain 
as restless as ever. how well might all these answer 
many of us, with indignation, as Jacob did Rachel, 
Mni I instead of God?" Of as the king of Israel 

said to the messengers of the king of Assyria, when 

he required him to restore Xaaman to health, "Am I 
Cod, to kill and to make alive, that this man sendeth 
to me to recover a man of his leprosy ?" 

Doubtless neither court nor country, towns nor 
cities, shops nor fields, treasuries, libraries, solitude, 
society, studies, nor pulpits, can afford any such thing 
as rest. If you could inquire of the dead of all gene- 
rations, or if you could ask the living through all 
dominions, they would all tell you, in the words of 
Solomon, " All our days are sorrow, and our labour 
grief, and our heart taketh not rest" The holiest 
prophet, the most blessed apostle, would say, as one 
of the most blessed did, " Our flesh had no rest ; with- 
out were fightings, within were fears." If neither 
Christ nor his apostles had rest here, why should we 
expect it ? 

Or, if other men's experience move you not, do but 
take a view of your own. Can you remember the 
estate that did fully satisfy you ? Or if you could, 
will it prove a lasting estate ? We may all say of our 
rest, as Paul of our hopes, " If it were in this life only, 
we were of all men most miserable." 

If, then, either Scripture, or reason, or the experi- 
ence of ourselves, and of all the world, will satisfy us, 
we may see there is no resting place here. 



CHAPTER VI. 

REPROVING OUR UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE. 

Use Sixth. — Is there a rest remaining for the people 
of God ? Why then are we so loath to die, and to 
depart hence that we may possess this rest? We 

16 * 



18 ^ REPROVING OUR 






linger, as Lot in Sodom, till God "being merciful to 
us," plucks us away against our wills. How rare is 
it to meet with a Christian, that can die with an un- 
feigned willingness, at least, if worldly calamity con- 
strain him not to be willing ! I confess that death of 
itself is not desirable ; but the soul's rest with God, to 
which death is the common passage, is most desirable 
As, however, we are apt to make light of this sin, and 
to plead our common nature in apology for it, let me 
here set before you its aggravations ; and also pro- 
pound some further considerations, which may be 
useiul in guarding you against it. 



SECTION I. 
The Aggravations of this Sin. 

First, I shall set before you some of the aggrava- 
tions of this sin. So 

I. Consider Iioav much infidelity lurks in this sin 
There is either disbelief of the truth of that eternal 
blessedness, and of the truth of the Scripture which pro- 
mises it to us ; or at least, a doubting of our own inte- 
rest therein ; or most usually a mixture of both these. 
And though Christians are usually most sensible of the 
latter, and therefore complain most against it ; vet I 
am apt to suspect the former to be the main sin and 
of greatest force in this business. 0, if we but truly 
believed that there is indeed such blessedness prepared 
for believers, as the Scripture teaches, surely we should 
be as impatient of living, as we are now fearful of 
dying and should think every day a year till our last 
day should come. Is it possible that we can truly 
believe, that death will remove us from such misery 
to such glory, and yet be loath to die ? If it were the 
doubts of our interest in this rest, which alarmed us, 
yet a true belief of its certainty and excellency, would 
make us restless till our interest in it Avas cleared If 
a man that is desperately sick to-day, believed he 
would arise well the next morning, or a man who 






UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE. 1S7 

was to-day in poverty, had assurance that he would 
awake to-morrow a prince, would they be afraid to 

o bed? Or rather would they not think it the 
longest day of their lives, till the desired night and 
morning came ? The truth is, though there is much 
faith and Christianity in our mouths, yet there is 
much infidelity in our hearts, which is the main cause 
that we are SO loath to die. 

II. The coldness of our love is discovered by our 
unwillingness to die. Love desires the nearest con- 
junction, the fullest fruition, and closest communion. 
Where these desires are absent, there is only a naked 
pretence of love. He that ever felt such a thing as 
love working in his breast, has also felt these desires 
attending it. If we love our friend, we love his com- 
pany ; when he leaves us, we desire his return ; when 

omes to us, we welcome his appearance ; when he 
dies, we mourn his loss ; and if we really loved God, 
would not our desires after him be equally ardent ? 
Nay, should they not be much more ardent, since he 
is above all friends most lovely ? Let us take heed 
of self-deceit in this point ; for certainly, whatever we 
pretend, if we love father or mother, husband or wife, 
child or friend, wealth or life more than Christ, we are 
none of his disciples ! When it comes to the trial, the 
question will not be, Who has preached most, or 
heard most, or talked most, but who has loved most ? 
And do we love him, and yet care not how long we 
are absent from him ? I dare not conclude, that we 
have no love at all when we are so loath to die ; but 1 
will say, were our love more, we would die more 
willingly. Yea, I dare say, did we love God but as 
strongly as a worldling loves his wealth, or as an am- 
bitious man his honour, or as a voluptuous man his 
pleasures, we would not be so exceedingly loath to 
leave the world, and go to God. 0, if this holy flame 
of love were thoroughly kindled in our breasts, instead 
of our depressing fears, our mournful complaints, and 
our earnest prayers against death, we would join in 
David's lamentation in the wilderness, " As the hart 
panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul 



188 RETROVING OUR 

after thee, God : My soul thirsteth for God, for the 
living God: When shall I come and appear before 

God :-" 

III. It shows we are not weary of sinning, when 
we are so unwilling to be freed from it by dying. Did 
we consider sin as the greatest evil, we would not be 
willing to have its company so long. Did we look on 
sin as our worst enemy, and on a sinful life as the 
most miserable life, sure J y we would be more ready 
for a change. But 0, how far are our hearts from 
our doctrinal profession, in this point also ! We preach, 
and write, and talk against sin, and yet when we are 
called to leave it, we are loath to depart. We brand 
it with the most odious names, but when the approach 
of death puts us to the trial, we choose a continuance 
with these abominations, before the presence and 
fruition of God. As Memnon smote his soldier for 
railing against Alexander, his enemy, saying, " I hired 
thee to fight against him, not to rail against him ;" so 
may God smite us when he hears our tongues reviling 
that sin which we resist so slothfully, and part with so 
unwillingly. 

IV. It shows we are insensible of the vanity of the 
creature, when we are so loath to hear or think of a 
removal. We call the world our enemy, and groan 
under our sore bondage ; but either we speak not as we 
think, or else we imagine some singular happiness in 
the possession of worldly things, for which all this 
should be endured. Is any man loath to leave his 
prison, or to remove his dwelling from his cruel ene- 
mies, or to escape the hands of murderous robbers? 
Do we, indeed, take the world for our prison, and yet 
are we loath to leave it ? Do we take this flesh as a 
veil that is drawn between us and God, and yet are 
we loath to lay it down? Does the sailor long to see 
the land, and the traveller to reach his home, and the 
soldier to win the field, and art thou loath to see thy 
labours finished, and to receive the heavenly inheri- 
tance ? O unworthy soul ! which had rather dwell in 
tins land of darkness, and wander in this barren wil- 



UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE. 1S9 

derness, than dwell in heaven, the land of light, and 
peace, and joy. 

V. It shows the hypocrisy of our hearts when we 
are BO Loath to die. We profess that there awaits us 
- a tar more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 
We call (led our chief good, and say, we love him 
above all things, and yet notwithstanding this, we fly 
from him. Would yon have any man hclieve you, 
when you call the Lord your only hope, and talk of 
the joy that is in his presence, and yet would endure 
the hardest life rather than die and go into his pre- 
sence ? What self-contradiction is this, to talk so 
hardly of the world and flesh, to groan and complain 
of sin and suffering, and yet to fear no day more than 
that which we expect will bring our final freedom ! 

VI. Consider how we wrong the Lord and his pro- 
mises, and disgrace his ways in the eyes of the world, 
as if we would persuade them to question, whether 
God be true to his word or not, and whether there be 
any such glory as the Scripture promises, when they 
see those who profess to live by faith, so loath to leave 
their hold of present things. How does it make the 
weak stagger, and confirm the world in their unbe- 
lief and sensuality ! how are we ever able to repair 
the wrong which we do to God and poor souls by 
this inconsistency ! 

Lastly, it shows that we have been careless loiterers, 
and have spent much time to little purpose, when we 
are still so loath to die. Have we not had all our 
lifetime to prepare to die ? And are we still so unready, 
and so unwilling ? Would we have wished more fre- 
quent warnings ? How often has death entered the 
habitations of our neighbours ! How often has it 
knocked at our own doors ! How many distempers 
have seized our own bodies, so that we have been 
forced to receive the sentence of death in ourselves ; 
and what were all these but so many messengers sent 
from God to tell us we must shortly die, as if we had 
heard a voice speaking to us, " Delay no more, but 
make you ready. " And are we, after all this unpre- 
pared and unwilling still ? 



190 REPROVING OUR 



SECTION II. 

Reasons why we should be willing to die. 

Secondly, Having set before you the heinous aggra- 
vations of this sin, I will now proceed to state some 
farther considerations which may make you willing 
to die. 

I. Consider that not to die were never to be happy. 
To escape death, were to lose our blessedness. If our 
hope in Christ were in this life only, we were of all 
men most miserable. Why do we pray, and fast, and 
mourn, why do we suffer the scorn and contempt of 
the world, if it be not for our hopes and desires of the 
life to come ? What ! Christian, wouldst thou lose thy 
faith, and lose thy labour in all thy duties, and all thy 
sufferings, and be contented with the portion of a 
worldling ? If thou say no to this, how canst thou 
then be loath to die ? Good old Milius, when dying, 
being asked whether he was willing to die, replied, 
• Let him be loath to die, who is loath to be with 
Christ" 

II. Is God willing by death to glorify us ; and are 
we unwilling to die that we may be glorified ? Would 
God freely give us heaven, and are we unwilling to 
receire it? Surely to refuse such kindness, would 
discover great ingratitude and unworthiness. As God 
resolved against them who made excuses when they 
should have come to Christ, " Verily none of these 
Chat were bidden shall taste of my supper;" so would 
it be just in him to resolve against us, who frame ex- 
cuses when we should come to glory. 

III. Was the Lord Jesus willing to come from hea- 
ven to earth for us, and shall we be unwilling to 
remove from earth to heaven for ourselves and him? 
Surely if we had been once possessed of heaven, and 
God should propose to send us to earth again, as he 
did his Son for our Bakes, we would then be loath to 



UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE. 191 

remove indeed. It was a great change to which 
Christ freely submitted, clothing himself with the gar- 
ments of flesh; taking upon him the form of a servant, 
coming from the bosom of the Father, and bearing his 
wrath which we should have borne. Shall he come 
down from the height of glory to the depth of misery, 
to bring us up to his eternal rest, and shall we after 
all this be unwilling to die ? Has he bought our rest 
at so dear a rate ? Is our inheritance purchased with 
his blood ? And are we, after all this, loath to enter 
upon its enjoyment ? 

IV. Do we not combine with our most malicious 
enemies, while we are loath to die and go to heaven ? 
What is the design of Satan's temptations ? Is it not 
to keep our souls from God ? And shall we be well 
content with this, and join with Satan in his desires ? 

V. Do not our daily fears of death, make our lives 
a continual torment ? The fear of death, as Erasmus 
says, is a sorer evil than death itself. These lives 
which might be full of joys in the daily contemplation 
of the life to come, and the delightful thoughts of eter- 
nal bliss, we fill up with terrors, through these cause- 
less fears and apprehensions. Thus we consume our 
own comforts, and prey upon our purest pleasures. 
When we might lie down, and rise up, and walk 
abroad with our hearts full of heavenly joys, we con- 
tinually fill them with perplexing fears ; for he that 
fears dying, must be always fearing, because he has 
always cause to expect it. And how can that man's 
life be comfortable, who lives in continual dread of 
losing his comforts ? 

VI. Moreover, all these are self-created sufferings ; 
as if God had not inflicted enough upon us, but we 
must inflict more upon ourselves ! Is not death, of 
itself, bitter enough to the flesh, but we must multiply 
its bitterness? Do we complain so much of the 
burden of our troubles, and yet daily add to the 
weight ? Surely the state of poor mortals is sufficiently 
calamitous ; they need not make it so much worse. 
The sufferings laid upon us by God, all lead to happy 
issues ; the progress is from suffering to patience, from 






192 REPROVING OUR 

patience to experience, and so to hope, and at last to 
glory. 13ui the sufferings which we make ourselves, 
have no such good fruits* 

VII. Consider further, they are all unprofitable 
fears. As all our care cannot make one hair white or 
black, or add one cubit to our stature, so neither can 
our fears prevent our sufferings, nor delay our death 
one hour. Willing or unwilling we must depart 
hence. Many a man's fears have hastened his end, 
but never averted it. It is true, a cautious fear or 
care concerning the danger after death, has profited 
many, and is very useful for averting that danger ; 
but for a member of Christ, and an heir of heaven, to 
be afraid of entering his own inheritance, this is a 
sinful, useless fear. 

VIII. But though this fear be unprofitable yet to 
Satan it is very serviceable. Our fears of dying 
ensnare our souls, and add strength to many tempta- 
tions. Nay, should we be called to die for Christ, it 
may draw us to deny the known truth, and forsake 
the Lord himself. You look upon it now as a small 
sin, a common frailty of human nature ; but if you 
look to the dangerous consequences of it, methinks it 
should move you to other thoughts. What made 
Peter deny his Lord ? What makes apostates in 
suffering times forsake the truth ? Fear of imprison- 
ment and poverty may do much, but fear of death 
will do much more. When you see the gibbet, or 
hear the sentence, if this fear of dying prevail in you, 
you will immediately begin to say with Peter, " I 
know not the man." When you see the faggots and 
the fire ready, you will say as that apostate to the 
martyr, " the fire is hot, and nature is frail," forget- 
ting that the fire of hell is hotter. Besides all this, it 
gives rise to a multitude of unbelieving contrivances 
and discontents at the wise disposals of God, and hard 
thoughts <>f his providences. When time also should 
be most precious to us in the close of life, and when 
it should he employed to the best purpose, we vainly 
and sinfully waste it in these distracting fears. Thus 



UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE. 193 

you sec what a dangerous snare these fears are, and 
what a fruitful parent of many other evils. 

IX. Consider what a competent time the most of us 
have had to prepare for death. Some have had 
thirty, some forty, some fifty or sixty years; and why 
should not a man that would die at all, be as willing 
at thirty or forty, if God see meet, as at seventy or 
eighty? Usually, indeed, when the longest day is 
come, men are as loath to depart as ever. Length of 
time does not conquer corruption ; that never withers 
nor decays through age. Unless we receive an 
addition of grace, as well as of time, we naturally 
grow worse as we grow older. Let us, then, be con- 
tent with our allotted proportion. 

X. Consider, thou hast had a competency of the 
comforts of life, as well as of time. God might have 
made thy life a course of uninterrupted misery, till 
thou hadst been as weary of possessing it, as thou art 
now afraid of losing it. If he had denied thee the 
benefits of living, thy life would have been but a 
slender comfort. Has thy Father allowed thee so 
large a portion, and caused thy lot to fall so well, and 
given thee thine abode in pleasant places, and filled 
up all thy life with mercies, and dost thou now think 
thy share too small ? Is not that which thy life wants 
in length, made up in the breadth, and weight, and 
sweetness of thy mercies ? What a multitude of con- 
solations, of delightful Sabbaths, of pleasant studies, 
of precious companions, of wonderful deliverances, of 
excellent opportunities, of fruitful labours, of joyful 
tidings, of sweet experiences, of astonishing provi- 
dences, has thy life partaken of? And yet art thou 
not satisfied with thy lot ? Has thy life been so sweet, 
that thou art loath to leave it ? Is that the thanks 
thou returnest to him, who sweetened it, to draw thee 
to his own blessedness ? infatuated soul ! would 
thou wert as covetous after eternity, as thou art of a 
fading perishing life ; and after the blessed presence 
of God, as thou art of continuance with earth and sin ! 

XI. Consider, what if God should grant thy desire, 
and let thee live yet many years, but withal should strip 

17 



194 REPROVING OUR 

thee of the comforts of life, and deny thee the mercies 
which thou hast hitherto enjoyed? Would this be 
a blessing worth the begging for? Might not God in 
judgment give thee life, as he gave the murmuring 
Israelites quails, or as he often gives men riches and 
honour, when he sees them over earnest for them? 
Might he not justly say to thee, "Seeing thou hadst 
rather linger on earth, than come and enjoy my 
presence ; seeing thou art so fond of life, take it, and a 
curse with it. Let thy table be a snare ; let thy friends 
be thy sorrow ; let thy riches be corrupted, and the 
rust of thy silver eat thy flesh." God might give thee 
life, till thou art weary of living ; be not, therefore, so 
importunate for life, which may prove a judgment 
instead of a blessing. 

Lastly. Consider, how many of the saints of all 
ages have gone before thee. Thou art not to enter 
an untrodden path. Excepting Enoch and Elijah, 
which of the saints have escaped death ? Nay, has 
not Jesus Christ himself gone this way ? Has he not 
sanctified the grave to us, and perfumed the dust 
with his own body ? And art thou loath to follow 
him too ? 0, rather let us say as Thomas, " Let us 
also go, and die with him ;" or rather, Let us " suffer 
with him, that we may be glorified together." 

I have said the more on this subject, because it is 
so needful to myself and others, — finding that among 
so many Christians, who could do and suffer much 
for Christ, there are yet so few that can willingly die, 
and of many who have somewhat subdued other cor- 
ruptions, so few have got the conquest of this. 

Before, however, concluding, I will answer a few 
objections. 

Objection 1. 0, if I were but certain of Heaven, I 
would never shrink from dying. 

Answer 1. Didst thou not say so long ago ? If you 
are yet uncertain, whose fault, is it ? You have had 
no greater matter than this to mind. Had you not 
better fall immediately to the trial, till you have put 
the question beyond a doubt? Must God stay while 
you trifle ? must he exercise his patience to cherish 



1 WVILLIXCiXESS TO DIE. 195 

your negligence? If thou hast played the loiterer, <lo 
bo no longer. Go search thy soul, and follow the 

search close, till thou come to a clear discovery. 
Begin to-night ; stay not till the morning. Certainty 
comes not by length of time, but by the blessing of 
the Spirit upon wise and faithful trial. You may 
linger out thus twenty years more, and be still as 
uncertain as you are now. 

2. Perfect certainty may not be expected. We 
shall still be deficient in this, as well as in other 
doings : I know no reason why we may not expect 
perfection in all things else, as well as in this. If 
your belief of that Scripture, "Believe and be saved," 
be imperfect ; or if your knowledge, whether your 
own deceitful hearts do sincerely believe or not, be 
imperfect, the result or conclusion must needs be im- 
perfect too. If then you stay till you are perfectly 
certain, you may stay for ever. 

3. Both your assurance, and the comfort thereof, 
are the gift of the Spirit, who is a free bestower. 
And God's usual time to be largest in mercy, is when 
his people are deepest in necessity. A mercy in 
season, is the sweetest mercy. I could give you 
abundance of examples of those who have languished 
for assurance and comfort, some all their sickness, and 
some most of their lives ; and when they have been 
near to death, they have received it in abundance. 
Never fear death, then, through the imperfection of 
thy assurance ; for that is the most usual time of all 
for God most fully and sweetly to bestow it. 

Objection 2. but the Church's necessities are 
great. God has made me useful in my place, so that 
my death will be a loss to many ; otherwise, methinks, 
I could willingly die. 

Answer. This may be the case of some ; but yet 
remember the heart is deceitful. God is often pre- 
tended, when ourselves are intended. But if this be, 
indeed, what stops thee, consider, Art thou wiser than 
God ? Does he not know how to provide for his 
Church ? Cannot he do his work without thee ? Or 
find out instruments enough besides thee ? Think 



196 REPROVING OUR 

not too highly of thyself, because God has made thee 
useful. Must the Church needs fall when thou art 
gone ? Art thou the foundation on which it is 
built? Could God take away a Moses, an Aaron, a 
David, an Elijah, and find supply for all their places? 
and cannot he also supply thine ? This is to dero- 
gate too much from God, and to arrogate too much to 
thyself. Neither art thou so merciful as God; nor 
canst love the church so well as he : As his interest is 
infinitely beyond thine, so are his tender care and 
bounty. 

Frederick, the third elector of the Rhine, when he 
was a dying at Heidelberg, said to his friends, I have 
lived long enough on earth for you, I must now go 
live for myself in heaven for ever. So methinks 
when Christians have lived long in hard labour and 
sufferings for God and the church, they should be 
willing to live in heaven for God and themselves. 

Yet mistake me not in what I said: I deny not 
but that it is lawful for a Christian to desire God to 
delay his death, both for obtaining further opportunity 
of gaining assurance, and for being further serviceable 
to the church. I doubt not, but we may pray for re- 
covery from sickness ; we may rejoice in it, and give 
thanks for it, as a great mercy ; we may pray hard 
for our godly and ungodly friends in their sickness ; 
we must value our time highly, and improve it as a 
mercy which we must be accountable for ; every godly 
man is ordinarily so useful to the church, that even 
for the church's service he may desire to live longer, 
as Paul did, — even till he come to the full age of man, 
and while he is able to serve the church, and it hath 
need of him. No man should be over-hasty to enter 
on a state that can never be changed, when both 
assurance of glory, and his fitness for it, are still im- 
perfect ; especially as the saints ordinarily grow fitter 
for it as they advance in age. But then this must not 
be from love of earth ; we must consider it as our 
present loss to be kept from heaven, though it may 
tend to the church's and our own future advantage 
and so may be desired. 



UNWILLINGNESS TO PIE. 197 

Objection 3. Hut is not death a punishment of God 
for sin ? Does not Scripture call it the king of terrors, 
and does not nature abhor it above all other evils? 

Answer. Though death, considered in itself, may be 
called an evil, as being the dissolution of the creature, 
yet being sanctified to us by Christ, and being the 
ision of so great a good as our introduction into 
heaven, it may be welcomed with glad submission, if 
not with desire. Christ affords us grounds enough to 
comfort us against this natural evil; and therefore 
endues us with the principle of grace, to raise us above 
the reach of nature. 

To conclude : You must remember that in what I 
have said, I refer simply to the godly. I dissuade not 
the ungodly from the fear of death. It is a wonder 
rather, that they fear it no more, and spend not their 
days in continual horror of it. One would think such 
men should eat their bread with trembling ; that the 
thoughts of their danger should keep them awake in 
the night ; for it is no wonder that a man should quake 
at the thoughts of death, who expects to be dispos- 
sessed by it of his happiness, and knows not whither 
he is next to go ; but for the saints to fear their pas- 
sage by death to everlasting rest, this is a strange 
unreasonable fear. 



CHAPTER VII. 

AN EXHORTATION TO THOSE THAT HAVE GOT ASSUR 
ANCE OF THE HEAVENLY REST, TO DO ALL THEY 
CAN TO HELP OTHERS TO IT. 

Use Seventh. — Has God set before us such a glori- 
ous prize as is this everlasting rest of the saints, and 
has he made man capable of such an inconceivable 
happiness ? Why then do not all the children of the 
kingdom bestir themselves more to help others to the 
enjoyment of it ? Alas ! how little are poor souls 

17* 



19S DUTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

around us, beholden to the most of us ! We see the 
glory of the kingdom, and they do not : We see the 
misery and torment of the unconverted, and they do 
not : We see them wandering out of the way, and 
know if they hold on, they can never come there, and 
they discern not this themselves: And yet we will 
not speak to them seriously, and show them their error 
and danger, and help to bring them into the way that 
they may live ! 

But because this is a duty which so many neglect, 
and yet a duty of such high concernment to the glory 
of God, and the happiness of men, I will speak of it 
somewhat the more largely, and show you, 

I. Wherein it consists. 

II. What are the causes why it is so much neglected : 

III. State some considerations to persuade you to 
the performance of it. 

Lastly ', Apply this more particularly to some per- 
sons whom it very nearly concerns. 



SECTION I. 

The Nature of this Duty. 

The duty that I would press upon you consists in 
the things following. 

I. Get your hearts affected with the misery of your 
brethren's souls; be compassionate towards them; 
yearn after their salvation. If you earnestly long for 
their conversion, and your hearts are fully set on 
doing them good, it will excite you to the work, and 
God will usually bless it. 

II. Embrace all opportunities which you possibly 
can, of conferring with them privately about their 
state, and instructing and helping them to attain salva- 
tion ; and, lest you should not know how to manage 
this work, let me tell you more particularly what you 
are to do. 

If he l)e an ignorant person with whom you have 
to deal, who is an utter stranger to the principles of 
religion, the first thing you have to do is, to acquaint 



TO SEEK THE HEAVENLY RE* T. 199 

him with the primary truths of the gospel. Labour 
to make him understand wherein man's chief hap- 
piness consists, and how far lie was once possessed of 
it, and what covenant God then made with him, and 
how he broke it, and what penalty he incurred, and 
into what misery he brought himself thereby. Teach 
him what need men had o[' a Redeemer, and how 
Christ in mercy interposed, and bore the penalty, and 
what is the only way in which salvation can now be 
attained ; and what course Christ takes to draw men 
to himself, and what are the riches and privileges that 
believers have in him. 

If, when lie understands these things, he be not 
moved by them ; or if you find that the defect lies 
in his will and affections, and in the hardness of his 
heart, and in his devotion to the flesh and the world, 
then show him the excellency of the glory which he 
neglects ; and the extremity and eternity of the tor- 
ments of the damned, and how certainly he must 
endure them ; and how heinous a sin it is to reject the 
free offer of divine mercy, and to tread under foot the 
blood of the covenant. Show him the certainty, the 
nearness, and the terrors of death and judgment, and 
the vanity of all things below, with which he is now 
taken up, and how little they will avail him in the 
time of his extremity. Show him that, both by na- 
ture and practice, he himself is an enemy of God, and 
a child of wrath. Show him the vile and heinous 
nature of sin, the absolute necessity in which he stands 
of a Saviour, the fulness of Christ, the sufficiency of 
his satisfaction, his readiness to receive all that come 
to him, and the authority and dominion which he has 
purchased over us. Show him the absolute necessity 
of regeneration, faith, and holiness ; how impossible 
it is to have salvation by Christ without these ; and 
what is their true nature. 

If, when he understands all this, you find his soul 
enthralled in presumption and false hopes, persuading 
himself that he is a true believer, pardoned and recon- 
ciled, and that he shall be saved by Christ, and all 
this upon false grounds, then urge him to examine his 



200 DUTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

state. Show him the necessity of trying, the danger 
of being deceived, the commonness and easiness of 
mistaking, through the deceitfulness of our hearts, the 
extreme madness of patting it to a blind venture, or 
of resting in negligent or wilful uncertainty. Assist 
him in trying himself. Produce from Scripture some 
undeniable evidences of a state of grace ; and ask 
him, whether he ever found such workings or disposi- 
tions in his heart. Urge him to a rational answer. 
Do not leave him till you have convinced him of his 
misery, and then wisely and seasonably show him the 
remedy. 

If he produce some common gifts, or duties, or 
works, ascertain to what end he alleges them. If to 
join with Christ in constituting a righteousness, show 
him how vain and destructive they are in this respect : 
if it be by way of evidence to prove his tide to salva- 
tion, show him how far a common work may reach, 
and wherein the life of Christianity consists, and how 
much further he must go, if he will be Christ's disciple. 
In the mean time, that he may not be discouraged 
with hearing of so high a measure, show him the way 
by which he may attain it ; be sure to draw him to 
the use of all the means of grace ; urge him to hear 
and read the word ; persuade him to give up his sins, 
to get out of the way of temptation, and especially to 
forsake ungodly company ; and show him the strong 
hopes, that in thus waiting on God in the use of 
means, he may have of a blessing, this being the way 
in which God is usually to be found. 

If you perceive him possessed with any prejudices 
against the godly, and the way of holiness, show him 
their falsehood, and with wisdom and meekness an- 
swer his objections. 

If he be addicted to delay the duties he is convinced 
of, or if indolence and stupidity endanger his soul, 
then lay it on the more powerfully, and set home upon 
his heart the most piercing considerations, and labour 
to fasten them as thorns in his conscience, that he may 
find no ease or rest till he change his state. 

But because, in all works, the manner of doing 



TO SEEK THE HEAVENLY REST. 201 

them is of peculiar moment, and the right perform- 
ance of them greatly furthers the success, I will here 
add a few directions, which you must be sure to ob- 
serve m this work oi exhortation ; for it is not every 
advice thai succeeds, nor any manner of doing it that 
Will serve the turn. 

1. Set about the work with right intentions. Let 
thy aim be the glory of God, and the salvation of 
your fellow men. Do it not to get a name or esteem 
to thyself, or to bring men to depend upon thee, or to 
get thee followers. Be sure that thy main end be to 
recover them from eternal misery, and to bring them 
to eternal rest. 

2. Do it speedily. As you would not have them 
delay their return, so do not you delay to seek their 
return. You have been long purposing to speak to 
such an ignorant neighbour, or to deal with such a 
scandalous sinner, and yet you have never done it. 
Alas ! while you delay, he runs on the score all the 
while ; he gets deeper and deeper in debt : wrath is 
heaping up ; sin is taking root ; conscience grows 
seared, and the heart hardened ; the devil rules and 
rejoices ; Christ is shut out ; the Spirit is repulsed ; 
God is dishonoured ; the law is violated ; time runs on ; 
the day of visitation hastes away ; death and judgment 
are even at the door ; and what if the man die, and 
fall short of heaven, while you are purposing to teach 
him and help him thither ? What if he drop into hell, 
while you are purposing to prevent it? Delay in 
duty is a great degree of disobedience, even though 
you should afterwards perform it. It shows a heart 
that is indisposed to the work. how many poor 
sinners grow rooted, and next to incurable in sin, and 
at last perish, while we are purposing to seek their 
recovery ! Opportunities last not always. When 
thou hearest that the sinner is grown obstinate, or is 
dead, will not conscience say to thee, How knowest 
thou but thou mightest have prevented the damnation 
of a soul ? Lay aside thy excuses then, and obey 
God's command, " Exhort one another daily, while it 



202 DUTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

is called to-day; lest any be hardened through the 
deceitfolness of sin." 

3. Do it from compassion and love. We have 
many reprovers; but their manner shows too plainly, 
thai they are not influenced by love. Pride bids men 
reprove others, and they do it proudly, censoriously, 
and contemptuously: passion bids them reprove 
others, and they do it passionately. Now, it is not 
vilifying or reproaching a man for his faults, that is 
likely to work his reformation, or to convert him to God. 
Men will take those for their enemies that thus deal 
with them; and the words of an enemy are little per- 
suasive. Lay aside your pride and passion, therefore, 
and go to poor sinners with tears in your eyes, that 
they may see you indeed believe them to be miserable, 
and that you unfeignedly pity their case. Let them 
see that your very bowels yearn over them, and that 
it is the earnest desire of your heart to do them good. 
Let them perceive that you have no other end in 
view, but their everlasting happiness ; and that it is 
your sense of their danger, and your love to their 
souls, that force you to speak. If men would go to 
every ignorant unconverted neighbour they have, and 
thus deal with them, what blessed fruit should we 
quickly see ! You little know what a prevailing 
course this would prove. How few, even of the vilest 
drunkards or swearers, would be so obstinate, as wholly 
to reject or despise the exhortations of love ! I know it 
must be God that must change men's hearts; but I 
know also, that God works by means, and when he 
means to prevail with men, he usually suits the means 
to the end, and stirs up men to plead with them in a 
kindly way, and so makes it successful. 

4. Do it with all possible plainness and faithfulness. 
Do not trifle with men. Do not hide from them their 
misery or danger. Do not make their sins less than 
they are, nor speak of them in extenuating language. 
Do not encourage them in a false hope or faith, no 
more than you would discourage the sound hopes of 
liie righteous. If you see their case to be dangerous, 
tell them so plainly. " Verily, verily 1 say unto 7011," 



TO SEEK THE HEAVENLY REST. 203 

g Christ, "except a man be born again, he cannot 
tee the kingdom of God." " Without holiness," says 
Paul, « no man shall see tlie Lord." Thus must you 
deal faithfully with men, if you intend to do them 
i. it is not hovering at a distance, in a general 
i hat will serve the turn. It is not in curing 
men's souls, as in curing their bodies, where they 
must not know their danger, lest it distress them, and 
hinder their cure. They are here agents in their own 
cure, and if they know not their misery, they will 
never bewail it, nor see how much they need a Sa- 
viour. If they know not the worst, they will not 
labour to prevent it; but will sit still and loiter till 
they drop into perdition. Deal plainly, therefore, 
with them, or you do but deceive and destroy them. 

5. Do it earnestly, seriously, and zealously. The 
exceeding stupidity and deadness of men's hearts 
is such, that no other dealing will ordinarily work. 
If you speak to some persons of the evil of their sin, 
of their need of Christ, of the danger of their souls, 
and of the necessity of regeneration, they will wearily 
and unwillingly give you the hearing, and put off all 
with a sigh, or a few good wishes, saying, " God for- 
give us, we are all sinners," and there is an end. If 
ever you will do them good, therefore, you must 
sharpen your exhortation, and set it home to their 
hearts, till you have roused them up, and made them 
begin to look about them. Let them know that you 
speak to them not about trifles, or about matters of 
uncertainty, which perhaps may never come to pass, 
but about the saving and damning of their souls, 
whether they shall be blessed with Christ, or tor- 
mented with devils, and that for ever. labour to 
make men know that it is madness, to trifle about sal- 
vation or damnation ; that heaven and hell are not 
matters to be passed over with a few careless thoughts ! 
Matters of moment must be dealt with seriously. To 
tell a man of his sins as softly as Eli did his sons ; 
to reprove him as gently as Jehosaphat did Ahab, 
" Let not the king say so," does usually as much 
harm as good. I am persuaded the very manner of 



204 DUTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

some men's reproof and exhortation has hardened 
many a sinner in the way of destruction. To tell 
them of sin, or of heaven or hell, in dull, easy, careless 
language, makes men think you are not in good ear- 
nest, nor mean as you speak; but either that you 
scarcely believe such things to be true, or else that 
you consider them as very slight and indifferent mat- 
ters. brethren, speak of sin as sin, and of heaven 
as heaven, and of hell as hell, and not as if you were 
in jest, or they were but trifles. 

6. Yet lest you run into extremes, I advise you to 
do it with prudence and discretion. Be as serious as 
you can, but yet with wisdom ; and especially you 
must be wise in the things following. 

(1.) Choose the fittest season for your exhortation. 
Speak not to men when they are in passion, or in 
drink, or in public, where they will take it for a dis- 
grace. You should observe, when they are fittest to 
receive instruction. It is an excellent example that 
Paul set us, in relation to his Jewish brethren : " I 
communicated," says he, " the Gospel to them, but 
privately to them which were of reputation, lest I had 
run or should run in vain." Some men would take 
this to be a sinful compliance, but Paul knew how 
great a hindrance men's reputation is to their receiving 
the truth, and that the remedy must not only be fitted 
to the disease, but also to the strength of the patient. 
Moreover, means will work easily, if you take the 
opportunity. When the earth is soft, the plough will 
enter. Take a man when he is under affliction, or in 
the house of mourning, or awakened by some moving 
sermon, and then set it home, and you may do him 
good. Christian faithfulness requires us, not only to 
do good when it falls in our way, but to watch for 
opportunities of doing good. 

(2.) Suit your exhortation to the quality and temper 
of the persons addressed. If he be a learned or inge- 
nious man, you must deal with him more by convincing 
arguments, and less by passionate persuasions. If lie 
be one that is both ignorant and stupid, there is need 
of both. If he be one that is convinced, but yet not 



TO SEEK THE HEAVENLY REST. 205 

converted, you must employ chiefly those means 
which rouse the affections. If he be obstinate and 
secure, you must reprove him sharply. If he be of a 
timorous, tender nature, and liable to dejections or 
distractions, you must deal mildly with him. Love, 
and plainness, and seriousness, take with all ; but words 
of terror, some can scarcely bear. 

(3.) Be wise also in using the apt expressions. Many 
a minister delivers most excellent and useful matter in 
such harsh language, that it makes the hearers loathe 
the food they should live by, and laugh at a sermon 
that might make them quake. And so it is in private 
exhortation as well as public. If you clothe the most 
amiable truth in sordid language, you will make men 
disdain it as monstrous and deformed, though it be 
the offspring of God, and of a high and heavenly 
nature. 

7. Let all your exhortations be backed with the 
authority of God. Let the sinner be convinced that 
you speak not from yourselves, or out of your own 
head. Show them the very words of Scripture for 
what you say. Turn them to the chapter and verse 
where the sin is condemned, and where the duty is 
commanded. Press them with the truth and authority 
of God. Ask them, whether they believe that this is 
his word, and whether his word be true. So much 
of God as appears in our words, so much will they 
carry power with them. The voice of man is con- 
temptible ; but the voice of God is awful and terrible. 
They can and may reject your words ; but they cannot, 
they dare not, reject the words of the Almighty. Be 
sure, therefore, to make them know, that you speak 
nothing but what God has spoken before you. 

8. Be frequent with them in this duty of exhortation. 
It is not speaking once or twice that usually will pre- 
vail with men. If God himself must be constantly 
solicited, as if importunity could prevail with him 
"when nothing else can ; and therefore requires us to 
pray always and not to faint, the same course will 
no doubt be most prevailing with men. We are 
therefore commanded to " exhort one another daily/ y 

18 



20G DUTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

and " with all long suffering." The fire is not always 
brought out of the flint at one stroke ; nor men's affec- 
tions kindled at the first exhortation. And if they 
were, yet if they be not followed with fresh exhor- 
tations, they will soon grow cold again. Weary out 
sinners with your loving and earnest entreaties. Fol- 
low them, and give them no rest in their sin. This is 
true charity ; this is the way to save men's souls. 

9. Strive to bring all your exhortations to an issue. 
Content not yourself with simply doing the work, but 
look after the success. I have long observed, that, 
although ministers or private Christians speak con- 
vincing and powerful words, yet if their hearts do not 
long after the success of them with the hearers, but 
all their care is over when they have ended their 
speech, pretending that, having done their duty, they 
leave the issue to God, they seldom prosper in their 
labours. Labour, therefore, to drive all your ex- 
hortations to the desired issue. If you are reproving 
a sin, cease not till you have, if possible, got the sinner 
to promise to forsake it, and to avoid the occasions of 
it. If you are exhorting one to a duty, urge him to 
promise you to set immediately about it. If you 
would draw them to Christ, leave them not till you 
have made them confess, that their present unregene- 
rate state is miserable, and not to be rested in ; and 
till they have acknowledged the necessity of Christ, 
and of a change of heart ; and till they have promised 
to apply diligently, and without delay, to the use of 
the means of grace. that all Christians would be 
persuaded to take this course with all their neighbours 
and friends that are yet enslaved by sin, and strangers 
to Christ ! 

Lastly, be sure that your example exhort as well 
as your words. Let them see you constant in all the 
duties to which you persuade them. Let them see 
in your lives that difference from sinners, and that 
excellency above the world, which you exhort them 
to. Let them see by your constant labours for hea- 
ven, that you do indeed believe that which you would 
have them to believe. If you tell others of the 



TO SEEK THE HEAVENLY REST. 207 

admirable joys of heaven, while ye yourselves do 
nothing but drudge fox the world, and are as much 
taken up in striving to be rich, or as quarrelsome 
with your neighbours in a case of trade, as any 
others, who will believe you? Or who will be per- 
suaded by you to seek the everlasting riches? Let 
not men see you proud, while you exhort them to be 
humble ; nor to have a seared conscience in one thing, 
while you would have theirs tender in another. A 
holy, heavenly life, is a constant and powerful reproof 
to the conscience of a worldling, and a constant and 
eloquent solicitation of him to change his course. 

Thus I have explained to you that part of this 
duty, which consists in private familiar exhortation, 
for helping poor souls to everlasting rest ; and I have 
showed you also the manner how to perform it that 
you may succeed. 

III. Use your utmost endeavours to help men to 
profit by the public ordinances of religion. And to 
this end you must do the things following. 

1. Use your endeavours for procuring faithful min- 
isters in places where they are wanting. This is 
God's ordinary means of converting and saving men. 
" How shall they hear without a preacher 1" Not 
only for your own sakes, therefore, but for the sake 
of the poor miserable people about you, do all you 
can to bring this to pass. " If the gospel be hid, it 
is hid to them that are lost." Improve, therefore, all 
your interest and diligence to this end. If means be 
wanting to maintain a minister, open your purses to 
the utmost, rather than that the means of men's sal- 
vation should be wanting. Who knows how many 
souls may bless you, who may be converted and 
saved by the ministry which you may procure ? This 
is a higher and nobler charity, than if you gave all 
you have to relieve their bodies. Both, indeed, must 
be regarded, yet the soul has the first and strongest 
claim on our regards. 

2. When you enjoy the blessing of the gospel, you 
must use your utmost diligence to help poor sotils to 
receive the fruit of it. To this end, you must draw 



208 DUTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

them to attend constantly upon it. Remind them 
often of what they have heard. Often meet together 
(besides the more public meeting in the congregation), 
in order to repeat together the word which you have 
heard in public, — to pour out your united prayers for 
the Church and yourselves, to join in singing the 
praises of God, to quicken each other in love, and 
heavenliness, and holy walking ; and all this not as a 
separate church, but as a part of the church more dili- 
gent than the rest, in redeeming time, and helping the 
souls of each other heavenward. But let all your 
private meetings be in subordination to the public, 
and with the approbation and consent of your spirit- 
ual guides, " remembering them which have the rule 
over you, which speak to you the word of God, 
whose faith follow, considering the end of their con- 
versation ; Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to- 
day, and for ever." 

3. If you would have souls converted and saved by 
the ordinances, labour to keep the ordinances and 
ministry in esteem. No man will be much wrought 
on by that which he despises. The great causes of 
this contempt, are a perverted judgment and a grace- 
less heart. It is no more wonder for a soul to loathe 
the ordinances, that relishes not their spiritual nature, 
nor sees God in them, than it is for a sick man to 
loathe his food. O what a rare blessing is a clear, 
sound, sanctified judgment ! " Wherefore comfort 
yourselves together, and edify one another, even as 
ye also do : and we beseech you brethren to know 
them which labour among you, and are over you in 
the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very 
highly in love for their works' sake ; and be at peace 
among yourselves." " Obey them that have the rule 
over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for 
your souls as those that must give an account, that 
they may do it with joy, and not with grief; for that 
is unprofitable for you." 

And now, Christian reader, seeing it is a duty that 
God*has laid on every man according to his ability, 
thus to exhort and reprove, and with all possible dili- 



TO SEEK THE HEAVENLY REST. 209 

genee to labour after the salvation of all about him, 
judge whether tins work is generally and conscien- 
tiously performed by us, Alas! where shall we find 
the man among us, that engages in this duty with all 
his might, that sets his heart upon the souls of his 
brethren, that they may be saved ? 



SECTION II. 

Hinderances to this Duty. 

Secondly, Let us enquire what are the causes of 
the general neglect of this duty, that the hinder- 
ances being discovered, they may the more easily be 
overcome. 

I. Men's own gracelessness and guiltiness. They 
have not felt the wickedness of their own natures, 
nor their lost condition, nor their need of Christ, nor 
the transforming work of the Spirit ; how then can 
they discover these to others ? They have not been 
themselves exalted with the heavenly delights ; how 
then should they draw others so earnestly to seek 
them ? Men are also guilty themselves of the sins 
they should reprove ; and this stops their mouth, and 
makes them ashamed to reprove others, as well 
indeed it may. 

II. The secret infidelity of men's hearts. Of this, 
even the best have so great a measure, that it causes 
this duty to be done by halves. Alas ! brethien, we 
surely do not believe men's misery ; we surely do not 
believe the truth of God's threatenings. Did we 
verily believe that all the unregenerate and unholy 
shall be eternally tormented in hell, how could we 
hold our tongues ? How could we refrain from tears 
when we look them in the face, as did the prophet 
when he looked upon Hazael, especially when they 
are our kindred or friends, that are near and dear to 
us ? Thus secret unbelief of the truth of Scripture, 
consumes the vigour of each grace and duty. 

III. Want of charity and compassion to men's souls. 

18* 



210 DUTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

We are cruel and hard-hearted toward the miserable , 
and therefore, as the priest and the Levite did by the 
wounded man, we look on them and pass by. Oh! 
what tender heart could endure to look upon a poor, 
blind, forlorn sinner, wounded by sin, and captivated 
by Satan, and never once open our mouths for his re- 
covery? What though he be silent, and do not 
himself desire thy help ? His very misery cries 
aloud, and misery is the most effectual suitor to one 
that is compassionate. Had not God heard the cry 
of our miseries before he heard the cry of our prayers, 
and been moved by his own pity, before he was 
moved by our importunity, we might have remained 
for ever the slaves of Satan. Alas ! what pitiful sights 
do we daily see ? The ignorant, the profane, the ne- 
glecters of Christ and their souls ; and yet we scarcely 
pity them. You will pray to God for them, in custo- 
mary duties, that he would open the eyes, and turn 
the hearts of your unconverted friends and neigbours. 
But why do you not endeavour their conversion if 
you desire it ? And if you do not desire it, why do 
you ask it ? Does not your negligence convict you 
of hypocrisy in your prayers, and of mocking the 
most high God with your deceitful words ? If you 
should see your neighbour fallen into a pit, and should 
immediately fall down on your knees, and pray God 
to help him out, but would neither put forth your 
hand to help, nor once persuade or direct him to help 
himself, would you not deserve to be set down as 
cruel and hypocritical? What the Holy Ghost says 
of men's bodily miseries, I may much more say of 
the misery of their souls : " If any man seeth his 
brother in need, and shutteth up his bowels of com- 
passion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in 
him?" 

IV. A base man-pleasing disposition. It is an un- 
grateful work, and for the most part makes those our 
enemies that were our friends ; and men cannot bear 
the reproaches and unthankful returns of sinners. It 
may be they are their chief friends on whom is all 
their dependence, so that it may be their undoing to 



TO SEEK THE nEAVENLY REST. 211 

displease them. We are so loath indeed to displease 
men, and so desirous to keep in favour with themu 
that it makes us neglect our known duty. How can 
these men be Christians that love the favour of men 
- mora than the praise of God," for if they yet seek 
please men/ 5 they are no longer the servants of 
Christ ? To win them, indeed, we must become all 
things to all men ; but to please them to their destruc- 
tion, and let them perish, that we may maintain our 
credit with them, is a course so base and barbarously 
cruel, that he who has the profession of a Christian 
should abhor it. 

V. Sinful bashfulness. When we should labour to 
make men ashamed of their sins, we are ourselves 
ashamed of our duties. May not these sinners con- 
demn us, when they will not blush to swear, or be 
drunk, or neglect the worship of God, and yet we will 
blush to tell them of their sin, and persuade them from 
it? Sinners will boast of their sins, and impudently 
show them in the open streets ; and shall not we be 
as bold in drawing them from their evil courses ? Not 
that I approve of impudence in any ; nor would I 
have inferiors forget their distance in admonishing their 
superiors ; but let them do it with all humility, and 
submission, and respect. But yet I would much less 
have them forget their duty to God and to their supe- 
riors. Bashfulness is unseemly in cases of absolute 
necessity. Indeed, it is not a work to be ashamed of. 
To obey God in persuading men from their sins to 
Christ, and helping to save their souls, is not a business 
at which a man should blush. And yet, alas ! what 
abundance of souls have been neglected through the 
prevalence of this sin ! Most of us are, in this respect, 
heinously guilty. 

VI. Indolence and impatience. This is a work that 
seldom succeeds at the first, except it be followed 
with wisdom and unweariedness. You must be a 
great while teaching an ignorant person, before he 
will be brought to know the very fundamentals of 
religion, and a great while persuading an obstinate 
sinner, before he will come to a full resolution to re- 



212 DOTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

turn. Now this is a tedious course to the flesh and 
lew will bear it, not considering what patience God 
exercised towards us when we were in our sins, and 
how long he followed us with the importunities of his 
Spint W oe to us if God had been as impatient with 
us, as we are with our fellow-men ! 

VII. Self-seeking and self-minding, are, with many 
a great hindrance. Men are all for themselves « All 
mind their own things;" few "the things of Christ " 
and their brethren. Hence they are prone to say, 
Am I my brother's keeper ? Every man must an- 
swer for himself." Hence also it is that a multitude 
of professors think only where they may enjoy the 
purest ordinances; but where they may have the fair- 
est opportunity to win the souls of others, or in what 
place or way they may do most good, these tilings 
they little or nothing regard. 

VIII. With many, pride is a great impediment. If 
it were to speak to a great man, they would do it, 
provided it would not displease him. But to go 
among the multitude, to take pains with a company 
oi mean persons, to sit with them in their humble 
houses, and there to instruct them, and exhort them 
irom day to day, where is the person that will do this ? 
Alas, these men little consider how low Christ stooped 
ior us, when the God of glory comes down in flesh, 
and goes preaching among them from city to city ! 
tew rich, and noble, and wise, and mighty, are called. 
It is the poor chiefly who receive the glad tidings of 
the gospel. s 

Lastly, With some also their ignorance of the 
duty hinders them from performing it. Either they 
Jvnow it not to be a duty, or at least not to be their 
duty. Perhaps they have not thought much of it, nor 
been urged to it by their ministers, as they have been 
to hearing, and praying, and other duties. If this be 
thy case, who readest this, that mere ignorance or in- 
consideration has kept thee from it, then I hope now 
that thou art acquainted with thy duty, thou wilt set 
about it without further delay. 

Objection 1. 0, but says one, I have such weak 



TO SEEK THE HEAVENLY REST. 215 

parts and gifts, that I am unable to manage an exhor- 
tation, especially to men of strong natural parts and 
understanding. 

Answer. Use faithfully that ability which thou hast ; 
not in teaching those of whom thou shouldst learn, 
but in instructing those that are more ignorant than 
thyself, and in exhorting those that are negligent in 
the things which they know. If you cannot speak 
well yourself, yet you can tell them what God speaks 
in his word. It is not the excellency of speech that 
wins souls, but the authority of God manifested by 
that speech, and the power of his word in the mouth 
of the speaker. 

Objection 2. It is my superiors that need my ex- 
hortation and advice ; and is it fit for me to teach or 
reprove them ? Must the wife teach the husband, of 
whom the Scripture bids her learn ? Or must chil- 
dren teach their parents, whose duty it is to instruct 
them ? 

Jlnsiver. It is fit that husbands should be able to 
teach their wives, and parents to teach their children ; 
and God expects they should do so, and therefore com- 
mands the inferiors to learn of them. But if they, 
through their own negligence, or wickedness bring their 
souls into such danger as that they have the greatest 
need of advice and reproof themselves, then it is them- 
selves, and not you, that break God's order, by bring- 
ing themselves into disability and misery. Matters 
of mere order and manners must be dispensed with in 
cases of absolute necessity. Yet let me give you these 
two cautions : — 

1. That you must not pretend necessity when there 
is none, out of a mere desire of teaching. There is 
scarcely a more certain evidence of a proud heart, 
than to be more forward and desirous to teach than 
to learn, especially toward those that are fitter to 
teach us. 

2. When the necessity of your superiors calls for 
your exhortation and advice, yet give it with all possi- 
ble humility, and modesty, and meekness. Let them 
discern your reverence and submission to their supe- 



214 DUTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

riority, in the humble manner of your addresses to 
them. Let them perceive that you do it not out of a 
mere teaching humour, or proud self-conceitedness. 
What lather, or master, or husband, could take this ill ? 

Objection 3. Some will further object, that the 
party is so ignorant, or stupid, or careless, or rooted in 
sin, and has been so oft exhorted in vain, that there is 
no hope* 

•Answer. How know you when there is no hope ? 
Cannot God yet cure him ? And must it not be by 
means ? And have not many as far gone been cured ? 
Should not a merciful physician use means while 
there is life ? And is it not inhuman cruelty in you 
to give up your friend to the devil and damnation as 
hopeless, upon mere backwardness to your duty, or 
upon groundless discouragements ? What if you had 
been so given up to yourself when you were ignorant ? 

Objection 4. But we must not " cast pearls before 
swine, nor give that which is holy to dogs." 

Answer. This language indicates a dispensation of 
Christ for your own safety. When you are in danger 
to be torn in pieces, Christ would have you forbear ; 
but what is that to you that are in no such danger ? 
As long as they will hear, you have encouragement 
to speak, and may not cast them off. 

Objection 5. Oh ! but it is a friend on whom I have 
all my dependence ; and if I tell him of his sin and 
misery, I may lose his love, and so be undone. 

Answer. Surely no Christian will acknowledge such 
an objection as this. Yet, I doubt, it oft prevails in 
the heart. Is the love of thy friend to be more valued 
than his safety ; or thy own benefit by him, than the 
salvation of his soul? Or wilt thou connive at his 
damnation, because he is thy friend ? Is this thy re- 
quital of his kindness ? 



TO SEEK THE IIEAVENLY REST 2\ 



SECTION III. 

Motives to this Duty. 

Thirdly, To excite you to diligence in helping all 
about you to this blessed rest, let me entreat you to 
consider the following motives. 

I. Consider, that nature teaches the duty of com- 
municating good, and grace especially disposes the 
soul thereto ; the neglect, therefore, of this work, is 
a sin against both nature and grace. He that should 
never seek after God himself, would be considered by 
all as graceless ; and is not he as certainly graceless, 
that does not labour for the salvation of others, seeing 
we are bound to love our neighbour as ourselves ? 
Would you not think that man or woman unnatural, 
who would leave their own children or neighbours to 
famish in the streets, while they have plenty of pro- 
visions at hand ? And is not he more unnatural still, 
that will let his children or neighbours perish eternally, 
and will not open his mouth to save them? This 
certainly is most cruel. Now, that it may appear to 
you what a cruel thing this neglect of souls is, do but 
consider these two things, — what a great work it is 
which thou neglectest ; and, what a small matter it is 
that thou refusest to do for accomplishing so great a 
work. First, It is to save thy brother from eternal 
torments. It is to bring him to everlasting rest, where 
he may live in inconceivable happiness with God. 
Secondly, What is it thou art required to do to help 
him herein ? Why, it is to teach him, and persuade 
him, and lay open to him his sin, his misery, and his 
duty, till thou hast made him willing to yield to the 
offers and commands of Christ. And is this so great 
a matter to do, for attaining such a blessed end ? If 
God had bid you to give them all your estates to win 
them, or lay down your lives to save them, surely you 
would have refused, when you will not bestow a little 



216 DUTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

breath to save them. Is not the soul of .a husband, 
or wile, or child, or neighbour, worth a few words? 
Surely it is worth this, or it is worth nothing. 

II. Consider at what a price Christ did value souls 
and what he has done tor their salvation. He thought 
them worth his blood and sufferings, and shall not we 
then think thcni worth the breath of our mouths? 
Will yon not unite with Christ for so good a work? 
Will you not do a little where he has done so much ? 

III. Consider what lit objects of pity unconverted 
souls are. It is no small misery to be an enemy of 
God, — unpardoned, — unsanctified, — and without hope 
of salvation, and exposed to everlasting misery. They 
are even dead in their trespasses and miseries, and 
have not hearts to feel them, or to pity themselves. 
If others do not pity them, they will have no pity on 
themselves; for it is the nature of their disease to 
make them pitiless to their own souls, yea, to make 
them the most cruel destroyers of themselves. 

IV. Consider, the same was once thy own case. 
Thou wast once a slave of satan thyself, and didst go 
on in the way to condemnation. What if thou hadst 
been let alone in that way ? Whither hadst thou 
gone ? And what had become of thee ? It was God's 
argument with the Israelites to be kind to strangers, 
that they themselves were once strangers in Egypt ; 
so it may persuade you to show compassion to them 
that arc strangers to Christ, that you were once stran 
gers to him yourselves. 

V. Consider the relation in which thou standest to 
them. It is thy neighbour, thy brother, whom thou 
art bound to be tender of, and to love as thyself. He 
that loves not his brother, whom he sees daily, most 
certainly does not love God whom he has never seen ; 
and does he love his brother, that will stand by and 
see him go to hell, and never hinder him ? 

VI. Consider what guilt this neglect will bring upon 
thy soul. 

1. Thou art guilty of the blood of all those souls 
whom thou dost thus neglect. He that stands by, and 
sees a man in a pit, and will not pull him out if he 



TO BUS Tin: IIEAVKNLY ki:>t. 217 

can destroys him : and he that stands by, while thieves 
rob, or murderers kill him, and will not help him if he 

can, is try to the dved. And so he that silently 

suffers men to damn their souls, or lets satan and the 
world deceive them, and does not offer to help them, 
Will certainly be judged accessary to their mm. 

8. As yon arc m a measure guilty of their perish- 
ing, so arc yon of every sin which they in the mean 
time commit If they were converted, they would 
break oil' their course of sinning; and if you did but 
do your duty, you know not but they might be con- 
verted. As he that is guilty of a man's drunkenness, 
is guilty of all the sins which that drunkenness causes 
him to commit ; so he that is guilty of a man's con- 
tinuing unregenerate, countenances the sins of his un- 
regeneracy. 

3. You are also chargeable in a manner with the 
dishonour done to God. And how much is that ? 
And how tender should a Christian be of the glory 
of God, the least part whereof is to be valued more 
than our lives ? 

4. You are not innocent either of the judgments 
which these men's sins bring upon the town or coun- 
try where they live. I know you are not such athe- 
ists, but you believe it is God that sends sickness, and 
famine, and war; and also that it is only sin that 
moves him thus to manifest his indignation. What 
doubt then is there, that you are the cause of judg- 
ments, when you do not strive against those sins which 
are the occasion of them ? We have all seen the 
drunkards, and heard the swearers in our streets, and 
we would not speak to them : we have all lived in 
the midst of an ignorant, worldly, unholy people ; and 
we have not spoken to them with earnestness, plain- 
ness, and love. No wonder then if God speak in 
wrath both to them and us. Eli did not commit the 
sin himself, but yet he spoke so coldly against it, that 
he had to participate in the punishment. 

VII. Consider how dreadful it will be, to look upon 
your poor friends eternally in those flames, and to 
think that your neglect was a chief cause of it ; — that 

19 



218 DUTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

there was a time when you might have done much to 
prevent it. 

VIII. Consider what joy it will afford you to meet 
in heaven, those whom you have been instrumental 
in bringing thither ! To see their faces, and join with 
them for ever in singing the praises of God, whom ye 
were instruments of bringing to the knowledge and 
obedience of Christ, what it will be, we know not ; 
but surely, according to our present views, it will be 
no small joy. " What," says Paul, " is our hope, 
or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in 
the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, at his coming ? 
For ye are our glory and joy." 

IX. Consider how many souls we have drawn or at 
least hardened or confirmed in the way of ruin ! 
And should we not now be more diligent to draw 
men to everlasting life ? There is not one of us, but 
has had his companions in sin, especially in the days 
of his ignorance and unregeneracy. We have enticed 
them, or encouraged them to sin in various forms ; 
but we cannot so easily bring them from sin again, as 
we drew them to it. Many are dead already without 
discovering any symptoms of a saving change, who 
were our companions in sin. And does it not then 
become us to do as much to save men, as we have 
done to destroy them ; and to be as merciful to some, as 
we have been cruel to others ? 

X. Consider how diligent are the enemies of poor 
souls to draw them to hell ; and if nobody be diligent 
in drawing them to heaven, what is to become of 
them ? The devil is tempting them night and day. 
The flesh is ever pleading for its profits and delights. 
Their companions are ready to entice them to sin, 
and to increase their prejudice and dislike to holiness. 
Seeing then their enemies are so many and so power- 
ful, and so diligent in seeking their ruin, shall not 
Christians be still more unwearied in labouring to 
win them to Christ and everlasting life? 

XI. Consider, the neglect of this duty will very 
deeply wound you when conscience is awakened. 
When a man comes to die, conscience will ask him, 



TO SEEK THE HEAVENLY REST. 219 

* What good hast thou done in thy lifetime ? The 
saving of souls is the greatest of all works ; what hast 
thou done towards this? How many hast thou dealt 
faithfully with? How many have through thy instru- 
mentality been brought to Christ ?" I have often 
observed, that the consciences of dying men do very 
much wound them for the neglect of this duty. 

XII. Consider, it is now a very seasonable time 
which you have for this work. Take it therefore 
while you have it. There are are times wherein it is 
not safe to speak ; it may cost you your liberty, or 
your life ; but it is not so now with us. Besides, your 
neighbours will be here with you but a very little 
while : they will shortly die, and so must you. Speak 
to them therefore while you may, and give them no 
rest till you have prevailed. Do it speedily, for it 
must be now or never. 

XIII. Consider, this is a work of the greatest charity, 
and yet such as every one of you may perform. If it 
were to give them money, the poor have it not to 
give ; if it were to fight for them, the weak are not 
able ; if it were to suffer, the fearful will say they 
cannot ; but every one has a tongue to speak to a 
sinner. The poorest may be thus charitable as well 
as the rich. 

XIV. Consider the happy consequences of this 
work, where it is faithfully performed. 

1. You may be instrumental in the blessed work of 
saving souls, a work that Christ came down and died 
for, a work which the angels of God rejoice in, a work 
which will confer inestimable benefits on those who 
are converted by you. " If any of you do en *rom 
the truth," says James, "and one convert him, let 
him know, that he which converteth a sinner from the 
error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and 
shall hide a multitude of sins." And how can God 
more highly honour you, than to make you instru- 
ments in so great a work ? 

2. The souls whom you may convert will bless 
you in time and through eternity. They may be 
angry with you at first ; but if your words prevail 



220 DUTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

with them, they will bless the day that ever they 
knew you, and bless God that sent you to speak to 
them. 

3. God will have much glory in every soul which 
may be converted by you. He will have one more 
to value and accept of his Son; one more to love him, 
and daily worship and fear him, and to do him service 
m his church. 

4. The church will be a mighty gainer by it. 
There will be one less provoker of wrath, and one 
more to strive with God against sin and judgment, 
to engage against the sins of the times, and to win 
others by doctrine and example. If thou couldst but 
convert one persecuting Saul, he might become a 
Paul, and do the church more service than ever thou 
didst thyself. * 

Lastly r . It will bring much advantage to yourselves. 

1. It will increase your graces. He that will not 
let you lose a cup of water which is given for him, 
will not let you lose these greater works of charity. 
Besides those that have practised this duty most con- 
scientiously, find by experience that they never go on 
more speedily and prosperously towards heaven, than 
when they do most to help others thither along with 
them. It is not here as with worldly treasure, of 
which the more you give away, the less you have ; 
but here, the more you give away, the more you have. 
The exhibiting Christ in his fulness to others, will 
warm your own hearts, and stir up your love ; the 
opening of the evil and danger of sin to others, will 
increase your hatred of it, and much engage your- 
selves against it. 

2. It will increase your glory as well as your grace, 
both as a duty which God will reward, " for they 
that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the 
stars for ever and ever;" and also as we shall behold 
them in heaven, and be their associates in blessedness, 
whom God made us the instruments of converting on 
earth. 

3. It will give us much peace of conscience, whether 
we succeed or not, to think that Ave were faithful, and 



TO SEEK THE HEAVENLY REST. 221 

did our best to save them, and that their perishing 

shall no! lie at our door, but that we are clear from 
the blood of all men. 

i. It is a work, which, if it succeed, will exceed- 
ingly rejoice an honest heart. He that has any 

se of God's honour, or the least affection to the 
soul of his brother, must needs rejoice much at his 
conversion, whosoever be the instrument, but espe- 
cially when God makes himself the means of so 
blessed a work. If God make us the instruments of 
any temporal good, it is very comfortable ; but much 
more, if he make us the instruments of eternal good. 



SECTION IV. 

Exhortations to this Duty. 

Lastly, I shall conclude with a word of entreaty to 
Christians in general, to engage faithfully and dili- 
gently in the performance of this duty. 

Up, then, every man that has a tongue, and is a 
servant of Christ, and do something of your Master's 
work. Why has he given you a tongue but to speak 
in his service ? And how can you serve him more 
eminently than by the saving of souls ? He that will 
pronounce you " Blessed" at the last day, and award 
you " the kingdom prepared for you," because you 
fed him, and clothed him, and visited him, in his 
members, will surely pronounce you Blessed for so 
great a work as is the bringing of souls to his king- 
dom. He that says, " The poor ye have always with 
you," has left the ungodly always with you, that you 
may ever have matter to exercise your charity upon. 
0, if you have the hearts of Christians or men in you, 
let them yearn over your poor, ignorant, ungodly 
neighbours. Alas ! there is but a step between them, 
and death, and hell. Many hundred diseases are 
waiting ready to seize on them, and if they die unre- 
generate, they are lost for ever. Have you hearts of 
rock, that cannot pity men in such a case as this ? If 
you believe not the word of God, and the danger of 

19* 



222 Di i v 01 EXCITING others 

sinners, why arc you Christians yourselves? If you 
do believe it, why do you not bestir yourselves to the 
helping of others? Do you not care who is damned, 
provided you are saved? If so, you have as much 
cause to pity yourselves; for this is a frame of spirit 
utterly inconsistent with a state of grace. Should 
vim not rather say, as the lepers of Samaria, u We 
do not well ; this is a day of glad tidings, and we do 
hold our peace." Has God had so much mercy on 
you, and will you have no mercy on your poor neigh- 
bours ? Is it not hypocrisy to pray daily for their 
conversion and salvation, and never once endeavour 
to accomplish it ? Can you pray, " Hallowed be thy 
name/' and never endeavour to bring men to hallow 
it, nor hinder them from profaning it ? Can you pray, 
"Thy kingdom come," and yet never labour for the 
coming or increase of his kingdom ? Is it no grief to 
your hearts to see the kingdom of satan ilourish, and 
to behold him leading captive such a multitude of 
souls ? You profess to be soldiers in Christ's army • 
and will you do nothing against his prevailing ene- 
mies ? You pray also daily, " Thy will be done ;" 
and should you not then daily persuade men to do it, 
and dissuade them from sinning against it? You pray, 
that God would forgive them their sins, and that he 
would not lead them into temptation, but deliver them 
from evil: and yet will you not help them to repent 
and believe, that they may be forgiven, and assist 
them against temptations, and seek to deliver them 
from the greatest evil ? 

As this duty lies upon the godly in general, so it lies 
upon some more especially, according as God has quali- 
fied them for it. To them therefore, I will now more 
particularly address my exhortation ; whether they be 
such as have more opportunity and advantages, for 
this work, or such as have better abilities to perform it. 

I. All you to whom God has given more learning 
and knowledge, and endowed with better powers of 
utterance than your neighbours, God expects this 
duty especially at your hand. The strong are made 
to help the weak, and those that see must guide the 






TO THE hi:avenlv rest. 225 

blind. God looks for this faithful improvement of 
gifts, which, if you neglect, it were better for you that 
you never had received them; for they will aggravate 
your guik, and increase your condemnation. 

II. Of all those that have special familiarity with 
individual ungodly men, and that have interest in 
them, God expects this duty at their hands. Christ 
himself did eat and drink with publicans and sinners, 
but it was only to be their physician, not their com- 
panion. Who knows but God gave you a special 
interest in them to this very end. that you might be the 
means of their salvation? They that will not regard 
the words of a stranger, will regard a brother or a 
sister, a husband or a wife, or near friend. Besides, 
the bond of friendship engages you to more kindness 
and compassion than ordinary. 

III. Men of wealth and authority have excellent 
advantage for this duty, especially with those that are 
dependent upon them. 0, what good might such do, 
that have many under them, and that are the leaders 
of the country, if they had but hearts to improve their 
interest and advantage with them for their salvation ! 
Little do you that are such, think of the obligation 
which in this respect lies upon you. Have you not 
all your honour and riches from God ? And are you 
not bound to employ them all in his service, and for 
his glory ? Do you not know who it is that has said, 
" To whom men commit much, from them will they 
expect the more ;" " Them that honour me, I will 
honour, but they that despise me shall be lightly 
esteemed." 0, therefore, as you value the honour of 
God, your own comfort, and the salvation of souls, 
improve your interest to the utmost for God. Let 
men see that you excel others as much in piety, hea- 
venliness, compassion, and diligence in God's work, 
as you do in riches and honour in the world. 

IV. Physicians who are much about dying men, 
should in a special manner make conscience of this 
duty. In time of sickness and danger, the ear is more 
open, and the heart less stubborn than in time of 
health. 0, therefore, you that are of this honourable 



224 DUTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

profession, do not think this a work beside your call- 
ing, u if it belonged to none but ministers, except you 
think it beside your calling to be compassionate, or 
to be Christiana help, therefore, to fit your patients 
for heaven ; and whether you see they are for life or 
death, teach them both how to live and bow to die, 
and give them medicines for their souls as well as for 
then- bodies. 

V. The ministers of the gospel have special oppor- 
tunity for tins work of helping others to heaven. 4s 
they have, or should have more ability than others, so 
t is their special duty ; and every one expects it at 
their hands, and will better submit to their teaching 
than to that of others. 

1. Be sure that the saving of souls be the main end 
of your studies and preaching. 0, do not propose any 
low and base ends to yourselves. This is the end of 
your calling ; let it be also the end of your endeavours. 
God forbid that you should spend a week's study to 
please the people, or to seek the advancement of your 
own reputation. Dare you appear in the pulpit on 
such a business, and speak for yourselves, when you 
are sent and profess to speak for Christ ? Dare you 
waste the Lord's day in seeking applause, which God 
has set apart for himself? let the vigour of your 
persuasions show, that you are sensible on how 
weighty a business you are sent. preach with that 
seriousness and fervour as men that believe their own 
doctrine, and that know their hearers must either be 
converted or be damned. What you would do to 
save them from everlasting burnings, that do while 
you have the opportunity, that people may discern 
that you are in good earnest, and mean as you speak 
2. Do not think that all your work is in your studies, 
and in the pulpit. I confess that is great ; but alas ! 
It is but a small part of your task. You are shep- 
herds, and must know every sheep, and what is their 
disease, and mark their strayings, and help to cure 
1| "' 1 "- ;||I(I fetch them home. learn of Paul to 
preach publicly, and from house to house, warning 
every one night and day, with many tears. Let 



TO SEEK THE HEAVENLY REST. 225 

there not be a soul under your charge that shall not 
be particularly instructed and watched over by you. 
Go from house to house daily, and inquire how they 
grow in knowledge and holiness, and on what grounds 
they build their hopes of salvation; and whether they 
walk uprightly, and perform the duties of their seve- 
ral relations, and use the means to increase their 
abilities. See whether they daily worship God in 
their families, and set them in the way and teach them 
how to do it. Confer with them about the doctrines 
and practice of religion, and how they receive and 
profit by public teaching, and answer all their carnal 
objections. Maintain familiarity with them, that you 
may maintain your interest in them, and improve all 
your interest in them for God. " Blessed is that ser- 
vant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so 
doing." be not asleep when the wolf is waking ! 
Let your eye be quick in observing the dangers and 
strayings of your people. If jealousies, heart-burnings, 
or contentions arise among them, quench them before 
they break out into raging, irresistible flames. As 
soon as you see any turn worldly, or proud, or fac- 
tious, or self-conceited, or disobedient, or cold and 
slothful in duty, delay not, but immediately attempt 
his recovery. 

3. Do not deal slightly with any. Some will not 
tell their people plainly of their sins, because they are 
great men, and some because they are godly, as if 
none but the poor and the wicked should be plainly 
dealt with. Do not you so, but reprove them sharply, 
(though differently, and with wisdom,) that they may 
be sound in the faith. 

And as you must be plain and serious, so labour to 
be skilful and discreet, that the manner may somewhat 
answer to the excellency of the matter. 

Our language must not only be suited to our matter, 
but also to our hearers, or else the best sermon may 
be the worst. Study and pray, pray and study, till 
you become " workmen that need not to be ashamed, 
rightly dividing the word of truth," that your people 
may not be ashamed, or weary of hearing you ; and 



226 DUTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

besides unfolding clearly the doctrine of the gospel, 
study that you may be master of your people's affec- 
tions. 

4. See that youl* life teaches, as well as your ser- 
mons. Do not contradict and confute your own doc- 
trine by your practice. Be as forward in a holy and 
heavenly life, as you are in pressing it on others. 
Let your conversation be as edifying and spiritual as 
you teach them theirs should be. Let men see that 
you use not the ministry only as a trade to live by ; 
but that your very hearts are wholly set upon the 
welfare of their souls. Whatsoever meekness, humility, 
condescension, or self-denial you teach them from the 
gospel, teach it them also by your example. Alas ! 
that ever pride, emulation, hypocrisy, or covetousness, 
should come into a pulpit ! They are hateful in the 
shops and street, but more hateful in the church ; but 
in the pulpit most of all. What an odious sight is it, 
to see pride and ambition stand up to preach humility, 
and hypocrisy to preach sincerity, and earthly-minded- 
ness to preach a heavenly conversation ! Do I need 
to tell you that are teachers of others, that we have 
but a little while longer to preach, and a few breaths 
more to breathe, and then we must come down, and 
give an account of our work ? Do I need to tell you, 
we must die and be judged as well as our people, or 
that justice is most severe about the sanctuary, and 
that judgment begins at the house of God, and re- 
venge is most implacable about the altar, and jealousy 
hottest about the ark ? Have you not learned these 
lessons from Korah, Nadab, and Abihu, Eli, Uzzah, 
and the Bethshemites, though I had said nothing? 
Can you forget that even some of our tribe shall say 
at the day of judgment, " Lord, we have taught in thy 
name/' who yet shall be ordered to depart with, " I 
know you not ?" 

VI. The last class whom I would persuade to this 
great work of helping others to the heavenly rest, are 
parents, and masters of families. All you" that God 
lias entrusted with children or servants, consider 
**at duty lies on you for the furthering of their salva- 



TO SEEK TUE HEAVENLY REST. 227 

tion. That this exhortation may be the more effectual 
with you, 1 will lay down several considerations for 
you seriously to think on: — 

1. What plain and pressing commands of God are 
there that require this great duty at your hand ! "And 
these words which I command thee this day shall be 
in thy heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently to 
thy children, speaking of them when thou sittest in 
thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and 
when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." 
" Train up a child in the way he should go, and when 
he is old he will not depart from it." " Provoke not 
your children to wrath, but bring them up in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord." Many similar 
precepts you will find, especially in the book of Pro- 
verbs. So that you see it is a work which the Lord 
of heaven and earth has laid upon you ; and how then 
dare you neglect it ? 

2. It is a duty which you owe your children in 
point of justice. From you they received the defile- 
ment and misery of their natures, and therefore you 
owe them all possible help for their recovery. 

3. Consider how near your children are to you, and 
then you will perceive, that from this natural relation, 
they have a special interest in your utmost help. Your 
children are, as it were, parts of yourselves. If they 
prosper when you are dead, you take it almost as if 
you lived and prospered in them ; and should you not 
be peculiarly concerned that they may enjoy everlast- 
ing rest ? 

4. You will be witnesses against yourselves, if you 
neglect their souls. Your great care, and pains, and 
cost for their bodies, will rise up in judgment against 
you and condemn you. You can spend yourselves in 
toiling and caring for their bodies, and even venture 
sometimes upon unwarrantable courses, and all to pro- 
vide for their bodies ; but have you not much more 
reason to provide for their souls ? Do you not believe 
that your children must be everlastingly happy or 
miserable, when this life is ended ? And should not 
this be considered by you in the first place ? 



223 DUTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

5. God has made your children to be your charge ; 
yea, and your servants too. Every one will con: 
they are die minister's charge, and that it is a dread- 
ful thing for him to neglect them, when God has said, 
" It* thou warn not the wicked of their evil way, their 
blood will I require at thy hand I 9 * And is not your 
charge as great and as dreadful as his ? Have not 
you, in fact, a greater charge of your own families 
than any minister has? Yea, doubtless, and your 
duty is to teach, and admonish, and reprove, and 
watch over them ; and if you neglect them, God will 
require at your hands the blood of their souls. This 
is the greatest charge that you were ever intrusted 
with; and woe to you, if you prove unfaithful, and 
betray your trust, and suffer them to be ignorant for 
want of your teaching, or wicked for want of your 
admonition or correction ! 

6. Look into the dispositions and lives of your chil- 
dren, and see what a work there is for you to do. It 
is not one sin that you must correct, but thousands ; 
their name is legion, for they are many. It is not one 
weed that must be rooted up ; the field is overspread 
with them. Consider, too, how hard it is to prevail 
against any one of those sins ! They are hereditary 
diseases, bred in their natures; and how tenacious are 
all things of that which is natural ! Besides, the 
things you must teach them are quite above them, yea, 
contrary to the interest and desires of their flesh. 
How hard is it to persuade them to deny themselves, 
and displease the flesh, to forgive their enemies, to 
love those that hate them, to watch against tempta- 
tions, to avoid the occasions and the appearances of 
evil, to believe in a crucified Saviour, to rejoice in 
tribulation, to trust upon a bare word of promise, to 
make God their chief delight, and to have their hearts 
in heaven, even while they live on earth ! None of 
all this is easy. that God would make all you that 
are parents sensible what a work and charge lies upon 
you ! You that neglect this important work, and talk 
to your families of nothing but the world, I tell you 
the blood of souls lies on you. Make as light of it as 



TO SEEK THE HEAVENLY REST. 229 

you will, if you repent not and amend, the Lord will 
shortly call you to an account for your guiltiness of 
your children's everlasting ruin, 

7. Consider what sorrows you prepare for your- 
selves, b\ the neglect of your children. Think of 
Eli's sad example. Though he admonished his chil- 
dren, wi it was out of season, lie did it not soon 
enough ; he suffered them to have their will too long. 
He dealt not with them till they were grown hardened 
in their sin. Neither was his admonition severe 
enough according to his authority. 

(1.) You can expect nothing else but that they will 
be thorns in your very eyes, and you may thank your- 
selves if they prove so, seeing they are thorns of your 
own planting. 

(2.) If you should repent of your negligence, and be 
saved yourselves, yet is it nothing to you to think of 
the damnation of your children ? You know God has 
said, " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the 
kingdom of heaven." Methinks it should be a heart- 
breaking to all you that have unregenerate children. 
Methinks you should weep over them every time you 
look them in the face — remembering that they are on 
the way to eternal ruin. 

(3.) But yet worse than all this will it prove to you, 
if you die in sin yourselves ; for then you will be mis- 
erable as well as they ; and what a greeting will 
there be between ungodly parents and ungodly chil- 
dren ! How dreadful will it be to your tormented 
souls to hear your children cry out against you, " All 
this that we surfer is owing to you. You should have 
taught us better, and did not. You should have re- 
strained us from sin, and corrected us, but you did 
not." what an aggravation will such bitter cries be 
to your misery ! 

9. Consider, on the other hand, what a world of 
comfort you may have, if you be faithful in perform- 
ing this duty. If you should not succeed, yet you 
have delivered your own souls ; and though it be sad, 
yet not so sad as if you had been unfaithful, for you 
may at least have peace in your own consciences. 

20 



230 DUTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

But if, on the other hand, you do succeed, the comfort 
will be inexpressible ; for, 

(1.) Godly children will be affectionate to you, when 
a little riches, or things of a worldly nature, will often 
make ungodly children cast off natural affection. 

(2.) Godly children will be obedient to you. They 
dare not disobey and provoke you, because of the 
command of God, except you should command them 
that which is unlawful, and then they must obey God 
rather than man. 

(3.) If you should fall into want, they will be faith- 
ful in relieving you, as knowing they are bound by 
the double bond of nature and of grace. 

(4.) They will be helpers to your souls ; they will 
minister to your spiritual comfort ; they will delight 
you by speaking of heaven, and with all holy confer- 
ence and actions ; while wicked children will be 
grieving you by their cursing, and swearing, or drunk- 
enness^ or other sins. 

(5.) When you are in trouble, or sickness, or at 
death, they will be at hand to advise, and to support 
you. They will strive with God in prayer for you ; 
and what a comfort is it to a parent to have a child 
that has the spirit of prayer and an interest in God ! 
How much good may he do you by his importunity 
with God ! On the other hand, what a distress is it to 
have children, who, when you lie sick, can do no 
more than look in silence on your misery ! 

(6.) If God make you the instruments of your chil- 
dren's conversion, you will have a share in all the 
good they may do, during their lives. All the good 
they do to their brethren, or to the church of Christ, 
and all the honour they bring to God, will redound 
to your happiness, as having been remotely instru- 
ments of it. 

(7.) What a comfort will it be to you all your lives, 
to think that you will live with them forever in 
heaven ! But the greatest joy of all will be when 
you come to the possession of the inheritance, and you 
shall be able to say, " Here am I, and the children 



TO SEEK THE HEAVENLY REST. 231 

thou hast given me." And are not all these comforts 
enough to persuade you to this duty? 

10. Consider that the welfare of church and state 
lies mainly on this duty of well educating children; 
and, without this, all other means are like to be less 
successful I seriously profess to you, that I think all 
sins and miseries of the land may acknowledge this 
sin for their great nurse and propagator. what 
happy churches might we have, if parents did their 
duty to their children ! Any reasonable government 
would do better with a well taught people, than the 
best will do with the ungodly. It is not good laws 
and orders that will reform us, if reformation begin 
not at home. The first work towards the reforming 
and making happy a church and commonwealth, lies 
in the good education of your children. The most of 
this is your work ; and, if it be left undone, and then 
they come to ministers ignorant, and hardened in their 
sins, alas ! what can a minister do ? Whereas if they 
came trained up in the principles of religion, and in 
the practice of godliness, and were taught the fear of 
God in their youth, what an encouragement would 
this be to ministers, and how would the work go on 
in our hands ! 

11. Consider what excellent advantages you that 
are parents have above all others for the saving of 
your children. 

(1.) They are under your hands while they are 
young, and tender, and flexible ; but they come to 
ministers when thoy are grown older, and stiffer, and 
settled in their ways, and think themselves too good 
to be catechized, and too old to be taught. You have 
a twig to bend, we an oak. You have the young 
plants of sin to pluck up ; we the deep-rooted vices. 
You have the soft and tender earth to plough in ; we 
have the hard and stony ways, that have been trodden 
on by many years' practice of evil. Custom has not 
ensnared and engaged our little ones to the ways of 
sin. Their consciences are not yet seared with a 
custom of sinning, and long resisting grace. But of 
old sinners, God himself has said, " Can the Ethiopian 



232 N DUTY OF EXCITING OTHERS 

change his skin, or the leopard his spots ? Then may 
ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil." Does 
not the experience of all the world show you the 
power of education ? What else makes all the child- 
ren of .lews to be Jews, and all the children of Mo- 
hammedans to be Mohammedans, and of Christians 
to be by profession Christians, and of each sect or 
party in religion to follow their parents, and the 
custom of the place ? Now, what an advantage have 
you to use all this for the furtherance of the eternal 
happiness of your children, and possess them strongly 
beforehand against sin, and so Satan would come to 
them under some of those disadvantages under which 
Christ now comes to them ! 

(2.) You have the affections of your children more 
than any others. None in the world has the same 
interest in their hearts as you. Persons will receive 
that counsel from a friend which they would not re- 
ceive from an enemy or a stranger. Now, your 
children cannot but know that you are their friends, 
and, when you advise them in love, they cannot but 
love you in return. Their love is loose and arbitrary 
to others, but to you it is determinate and fast. 
Nature has almost necessitated them to love you. O, 
therefore, improve your interest in them for their 
eternal good. 

(3.) You have also the greatest authority over them. 
You may command them, and they dare not disobey 
you, or else it is for the most part your own fault, for 
you can make them obey you in your business in the 
world, yea you may correct them to enforce obedience. 
Your authority is the most unquestioned authority in 
the world ; and, therefore, if you do not use it to con- 
strain them to the works of God, you are without 
excuse. Besides, their whole dependence is on you 
for maintenance and support. They know you can 
either give them, or deny them what you have, and 
so punish and reward them at your pleasure. But on 
ministers or neighbours they have no such depend- 
ence. 

(4.) You know the temper and inclinations of your 



TO SEEK THE HEAVENLY REST. 233 

children, what vices they are most inclined to, and 
what instruction or reproof they most need; but min- 
isters that live not with them cannot know this. 

(").) Von are always with them, and so have oppor- 
tunity, not only to know their faults, but to apply the 
remedy. You may be often talking to them of the 
word ot* God, and reminding them of their state and 
duty, and may set home every word of advice, as 
they are in the house with you, or in the shop, or in 
tin 4 field at worlc. what an excellent advantage is 
this, it* God but give you hearts to use it ! Especially 
you mothers, remember this. You are more with 
your children while they are little ones than their 
fathers ; be you, therefore, often teaching them as soon 
as they are capable of learning. Plutarch mentions a 
Spartan woman, who, when her neighbours were 
showing their apparel and jewels, brought out her 
children virtuous and well taught, and said, " These 
are my ornaments and jewels." Oh how much more 
will this adorn you, than gold or pearls ! You are 
naturally of more tender affections than men ; and 
will it not move you to think that your children may 
perish for ever ? then, I beseech you, for the sake 
of the children you love, teach them, admonish them, 
watch over them, give them no rest till you have 
brought them to Christ. 

Thus I have showed you reason enough to make 
you diligent in teaching your children, if reason will 
serve, as methinks among reasonable creatures it 
should. 



20 






BOOK III. 

A DIRECTORY FOR GETTING AND KEEPING THE HEART 
IN HEAVEN, BY THE PRACTICE OF THAT EXCEL. 
LENT DUTY OF HEAVENLY MEDITATION. 

In the last book, I have chiefly pressed those duties 
which must be used for the attainment of this ever- 
lasting rest. In this I shall chiefly handle those which 
are necessary to raise the heart to God, and to an 
heavenly and comfortable life on earth. It is a truth 
too evident that many of God's children do not enjoy 
that sweet life, and blessed estate in this world, which 
God their Father has provided for them, that is, which 
he offers them in his promises, and charges upon them 
in his precepts, and brings even to their hands in all 
his means and mercies. God has set open heaven to 
us in his word, and told every humble sincere Chris- 
tian, that they shall shortly there live with himself in 
inconceivable glory : and yet where is the man that is 
duly affected with this promise ? Whose heart leaps 
for joy at the hearing of the news? and who is willing, 
in hopes of heaven, to leave this world? Even the 
godly have as strange thoughts of it, as if God did but 
delude us, and there was no such glory ; and are 
almost as loath to die as men without hope. The 
consideration of this strange disagreement between 
our professions and affections, caused me to suspect 
that there was some secret lurking unbelief in all our 
hearts. And because I find another cause to be the 
carelessness, forgetfulness, and idleness of the soul, 
and not keeping in action that faith which we have, I 
have here attempted the removal of that cause, by 
prescribing a course for the daily acting of those 
graces which must bring celestial delights into the 
heart. 

234 



MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNE 235 

I have hew prescribed thee, reader, the most delight-: 
ful task to the spirit, and the most tedious to the flesh, 

that ever men on earth were employed in. 1 did it 

first only foi myself, but am loath to conceal the means 

that 1 have found so eonsolatory. It' thou he oneth.it 
wilt not be persuaded to a course so laborious, hut 

Milt only go on in thy task of common formal duties, 
thou niayest let it alone, and so be*destitute of delights, 
except such as the world, and thy forms can afford 
thee : hut then do not for shame complain for want of 
comfort, when thou dost wilfully reject it ; and be not 
such an hypocrite as to pray for it, while thou dost 
refuse to labour for it. If thou say, thy comfort is all 
in Christ, I must tell thee it is a Christ remembered 
and loved, and not a Christ forgotten or only talked 
of, that will solidly comfort thee. 

This is the great duty, which I chiefly intended 
When I began this subject, and which I have reserved 
to the last, because I know men's memories are 
treacherous, yet apt to retain the last thing that is 
spoken, though they forget all that went before. My 
dear friends, it is a pity that one should forget any 
thing of that which so nearly concerns us as does this 
eternal rest of the saints ; but if you must needs forget 
something, let it be any thing else rather than this *; 
let it rather be all that I have hitherto said, than this 
last use of heavenly contemplation. 



CHAPTER I. 

motives to heavenly mindedness. 

Is there a rest remaining for us ? Why then are our 
thoughts no more upon it ? Why are not our hearts 
continually there ? Why dwell we not there in con- 
stant contemplation? Brethren, ask your hearts in 
good earnest, what is the cause of this neglect. Has 
the eternal God provided us such a glory, and pro- 



236 MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 

mised to take us up to dwell with himself? And is 
.lot this worth thinking upon? Should not the 
strongest desires of our hearts be after it, and the 
daily delights of our souls be fixed on it? Do we 
believe this, and can we yet forget and neglect it? 
How freely and how frequently do we think of our 
friends, our pleasures, our labours, our lusts, our 
studies, our news, — f ea, our very miseries, our wrongs, 
our sufferings, and our fears ! But where is the Chris- 
tian whose heart is on his rest ? Why, brethren, 
what is the matter ? Why are we not taken up with 
the views of glory ? Are we so full of joy, that we 
need no more ? Or is there no matter in heaven for 
our joyous thoughts ? 

But let me turn my reprehension to exhortation. 
And here I have the more hope, because I address 
myself to men of conscience, that dare not wilfully 
disobey God, to men whose relations to God are many 
and near, and therefore methinks there should need 
the fewer words to persuade their hearts to him. Yea, 
I speak to no other than those whose portion is there, 
whose hopes are there, and who have forsaken all 
that they may enjoy this glory. And shall I be dis- 
discouraged from persuading such to be heavenly 
minded ? Why, my fellow Christians, if you will not 
hear and obey, who will? Well may we be dis- 
couraged to exhort the poor, blind, ungodly world, 
and may say as Moses, " Behold, the children of Israel 
have not hearkened unto me, how then shall Pharaoh 
hear me ?" Whoever thou art, therefore, that readest 
these lines, I require thee, as thou tenderest thy alle- 
giance to the God of heaven, as ever thou hopest for 
a part in this glory, that thou immediately take thy 
heart to task. Chide it for its wilful strangeness to 
God ; turn thy thoughts from the pursuit of vanity ; 
bend thy soul to study eternity ; busy it about the life 
to come ; habituate thyself to such contemplations, and 
let not these thoughts be seldom or cursory, but settle 
upon them ; bathe thy soul in heavenly delights ; 
drench thine affections in these rivers of pleasure, or 
rather in the sea of consolation ; and if thy backward 



MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 237 

soul begin to flag, and thy thoughts to fly abroad, call 
them back, hold them to their work, and when thou 
hast once in obedience to God tried this work, and 
followed on till thou hast got acquainted with it, and 
kept a close guard upon thy thoughts till they are ac- 
customed to obey, thou wilt then find thyself in the 
suburbs of heaven, and, as it were, in a new world; 
thou wilt then find, that there is, indeed, sweetness in 
the work of God, and that the life of Christianity is a 
life of joy ; thou wilt meet with those abundant con- 
solations, which thou hast prayed, and panted, and 
groaned after, and which so few Christians ever here 
obtain, because they know not the way to them, or 
else make not conscience of walking in it. 

My beloved friends, let me bespeak your consciences 
in the name of Christ, and command you, by his 
authority, that you faithfully set about this weighty 
duty, and fix your eye more steadfastly on your hea- 
venly rest, and daily delight in the forethought thereof. 
I beseech you, if ever I shall prevail with you in any 
thing, let me prevail with you in this, to set your 
hearts where you expect a rest and treasure. Do not 
wonder that I persuade you so earnestly ; though, 
indeed, if we were truly reasonable in spiritual things, 
as we are in temporal, it would be a wonder that men 
should need so much persuasion to so sweet and plain 
a duty ; but I know the employment is high, the heart 
earthly, the hindrances many and great, and therefore 
I fear, before we have done and explained more fully 
the nature of the duty, that you will confess all these 
persuasions little enough. 

I will here lay down some moving considerations , 
which, if you will but vouchsafe to ponder thoroughly 
and deliberately weigh with an impartial judgment, I 
doubt not they will prove effectual with your hearts 
and make you resolve upon this excellent duty. 

I. Consider that a heart set on heaven will be one 
of the most unquestionable evidences of thy sincerity 
and of a work of saving grace upon thy soul. You 
are much in inquiring after marks of sincerity, and I 
blame you not ; it is dangerous mistaking in a matter 



238 MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 

wherein a man's everlasting salvation is concerned 
You are often asking, How shall I know that I am 
truly sanctified ? Why, here is a mark that will not 
deceive you, if you can truly say that you are pos- 
sessed of it, — even a heart set upon heaven. Would 
you have an infallible sign, not from me, or from any 
man, but from the mouth of Jesus Christ himself, 
which all the enemies of the use of marks can make 
no exception against ? Why, here is one, " Where 
your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Know 
once assuredly where your heart is, and you may 
easily know that your treasure is there. God is the 
saints' treasure and happiness; heaven is the place 
where they shall fully enjoy him. A heart set upon 
heaven, is therefore, nothing more than a heart set 
upon God, desiring this full enjoyment. And surely 
a heart set upon God through Christ, is a true evidence 
of saving grace. External actions are most easily 
discovered ; but those of the heart are the surest evi- 
dences. When thy learning will be no good proof of 
thy grace ; when thy knowledge, thy duties, thy gifts, 
will fail thee ; when arguments drawn from thy tongue 
and thy hand may be confuted ; yet then will this ar- 
gument from the bent of thy heart prove thee sincere. 
Take a poor Christian that has a weak understanding, 
a failing memory, a stammering tongue, yet whose 
heart is set on God ; he has chosen him for his por- 
tion, his thoughts are on eternity, his desires are there 
his dwelling there ; he considers that day a day of 
imprisonment wherein he has not taken one refreshing 
view of heaven : I had rather die in this man's condi- 
tion, and have my soul in his soul's case, than in the 
case of him that has the most eminent gifts, and is most 
admired by his fellow-men, whose heart is not thus 
taken up with God. The man whom Christ will find 
out at the last day, and condemn for want of a wed- 
ding garment, will be he that wants this frame of 
heart. The question will not then be, How much 
hast thou known, or professed, or talked ? but, how 
Ihlich hast thou loved, and where was thy heart? 
Why, then, Christians, as you would have a sure tes- 



MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY M IND1 DNESS. . 239 

timony of the love of God, and a clear proof of your 
title to glory, labour to get your hearts above. God 
will acknowledge that you truly love him; and take 
you for his faithful friends, when he sees your hearts 
are set upon him. Get but your hearts once truly in 
heaven, and without all question ye yourselves will 
follow. If sin and satan keep not thence your affec- 
tions, they will never be able to keep away your 
persons. 

II. Consider that a heart in heaven is the highest 
excellency of your soul, and the noblest part of your 
Christian disposition. As there is not only a differ- 
ence between men and beasts, but also among men, 
between the noble and the base ; so there is not only 
a common excellency, whereby a Christian differs 
from the world, but also a peculiar nobleness of s8ul, 
whereby the more excellent differ from the rest : and 
this lies especially in a higher and more heavenly 
frame of spirit. 0, to hear such an heavenly saint, 
who has been wrapt up in his contemplations of God, 
and is newly come down from the views of Christ, — 
what discoveries will he make of those superior 
regions ! What ravishing expressions drop from his 
lips ! How high and sacred is his discourse ! This, 
this is the noble Christian. As those are the most 
famous mountains that are highest ; and those the 
fairest trees that are tallest ; and those the most 
glorious pyramids whose tops reach nearest to hea- 
ven : so is he the choicest Christian, whose heart is 
most frequently, and most delightfully there. For my 
part, I value this man before the ablest, the richest, 
the most learned man in the world. 

III. Consider that a heavenly mind is a joyful 
mind, and the nearest and the surest way to a life of 
comfort. Can a man be at the fire and not be warm; 
or in the sunshine, and not have light ? Can your 
heart be in heaven, and not have comfort ? What 
could make so many frozen uncomfortable Christians, 
but living so far as they do from heaven ? And what 
makes some few so warm and comfortable, but their 
living higher than others do, and their frequent near 



240 . MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MTNPEDNESS. 

access to God ? Beloved friends if we would but try 
this life with Goth and keep our hearts above, what a 
spring of joy would be within us, and all our graces 
be fresh and green ! How would the face of our 
souls be changed, and all that is within us rejoice ! 
How would we forget our winter sorrows, and with- 
draw our souls from our sad retirements ! How 
early would we rise, as birds in the spring, to sing 
the praise of our great Creator ! Christian, get 
above ! Believe it, that region is warmer than this 
here below. Those that have been there have found 
it so, and those that have come thence have told us so. 
I dare appeal to thy own experience, or to the expe- 
rience of any soul that knows what the joys of a 
Christian are. When is it that you have the largest 
comforts? Is it not after such an exercise as this, 
when thou hast raised up thy heart, and conversed 
with God, and talked with the inhabitants of the 
upper world, and viewed the mansions of the saints 
and angels, and filled thy soul with the fore-thoughts 
of glory ? 

Brethren, if you have never tried this life of hea- 
venly contemplation, I do not wonder that you walk 
uncomfortably, that you are always complaining, and 
live amidst continual sorrows. Can you have comforts 
from God, and never think of him? Can heaven 
rejoice you, when you do not remember it ? Does 
any thing in the world gladden you, when you think 
not of it ? Must not every thing first enter by your 
judgment and consideration, before it can delight 
your heart and affections ? If you were possessed of 
all the treasures of the earth ; if you had a title to the 
highest dignities and dominions, and yet never thought 
of them, surely they would never rejoice you. Whom 
then should we blame, that we are so void of conso- 
lation, but our own negligent, unskilful hearts? God 
lias provided for us a crown of glory, and promised to 
set it shortly on our heads, and we will not so much 
as think of it. He exhibits it in the Gospel to us, and 
bids us behold it and rejoice ; but we will not so much 
as look at it ; and yet we complain of want of comfort 



MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MIXDEDNESS. J 11 

What a perversa course is this, botli against God and 
our own jovs ! It is by believing that we are filled 
With joy and peace ; and no longer than we continue 
our believing. It is in hope that the saints rejoice, 
yea, in the hope of the glory of God, and no longer 
than they continue hoping. God's Spirit works our 
comforts, by setting our own spirits to work upon the 
promises, and raising our thoughts to the place of our 
comforts. God delights his people, by taking them as 
it were by the hand, and leading them into heaven, 
and showing them himself, and their everlasting rest 
with him. God does not cast in our joys while we 
are idle, or taken up with other things; but as he 
gives to man the fruits of the earth, while we plough, 
and sow, and weed, and water, and dress it, so does 
he give the joys of the soul. Yet I do not deny, that 
if any should so think to work out his own comfort 
by meditation, as to attempt it in his own strength, 
and not do all in subordination to God, nor perceive 
the necessity of the Spirit's assistance, the work will 
prove like the workman, and the comfort he would 
gather from it mere vanity ; even as the husbandman's 
labour without the sun, and rain, and blessing of God. 
Though perhaps in some extraordinary cases, God 
may cast extraordinary joys into the soul, yet this is 
not his usual way. And if you observe the spirit of 
most forlorn, uncomfortable, despairing Christians, 
you will find the reason to be, their ungrounded 
expectation of such extraordinary joys ; and accor- 
dingly their spirits are tossed up and down, and are 
most inconstant. Sometimes when they meet with 
such joys, or at least think so, they are cheerful and 
lifted up ; but because these are usually short-lived 
joys, they are soon cast down ; and ordinarily that is 
their more lasting temper. Thus they are tossed up 
and down as a ship at sea, but are always in extremes. 
Whereas God is most constant ; Christ is the same, 
Heaven the same, the promises the same ; and if we 
took the right course for obtaining our comfort from 
these, surely our comforts would be more settled and 
constant, though not always the same. 

21 



242 MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MTNDEDNESS. 

IV, Consider that a heart in heaven will be an ex 
cellent preservative against temptations, and a power- 
ful means to kill thy corruptions. God can prevent 
our sinning, though we be careless ; and keep off the 
temptation which we would draw upon ourselves, and 
sometimes does so, but this is not his usual course, nor 
is this our safest way to escape. When the mind is 
either idle, or ill employed, the devil needs not a 
great advantage. When he finds the thoughts let out 
on lust, revenge, ambition, or deceit, what an oppor- 
tunity has he to excite us to practise these sins ! Nay, 
if he finds but the mind empty, there is room for any 
thing that he chooses to bring in ; but when he finds 
the heart in heaven, what hope can he have that any 
of his motions will take ? Let him entice to any for- 
bidden course, or show us the bait of any pleasure, 
the soul will return Nehemiah's answer, " I am doing 
a great work, and cannot come down." This will 
preserve us from temptation in several ways. 

1. A heavenly mind will protect us from tempta- 
tion, by keeping the heart employed. When we are 
idle, we tempt the devil to tempt us. As it is an en- 
couragement to a thief to see your doors open, and 
nobody within, so it encourages satan to find your 
hearts idle ; but when the heart is taken up with God, 
it will not have time to hearken to temptations ; it 
will not have time to be lustful and wanton, ambitious 
or worldly. 

2. A heavenly mind is fortified against temptation, 
because it clears the understanding in spiritual matters 
of the greatest importance. A man whose " conver- 
sation is in heaven," has truer and livelier apprehen- 
sions of things concerning God and his soul, than any 
reading or learning can beget. Though he may 
perhaps be ignorant in divers controversies and other 
matters that less concern salvation, yet those truths 
which most establish his soul, and preserve him from 
temptation, he knows far better than the greatest 
scholars. He has so deep an insight into the evil of 
sin, the vanity of the creature, the brutishness of 
sensual delights, that temptations have little power 



MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 243 

over him ; for these earthly vanities are Satan's baits, 
winch, though they may take much with the undis- 
cemillg world, yet with the clear-sighted Christian, 
they have lost their force. " In vain/ 1 says Solomon, 
tt is the net spread in the sight of any bird;" and 
usually in vain does satan lay his snares to entrap the 
soul that plainly sees them. We set our sentinels on 
the highest place that is near us, that they may dis- 
cern all the motions of the enemy ; and in vain does 
the enemy lay his ambuscades when we stand over 
him on some eminence, and see all he does. When 
the heavenly mind is above with God, we may far 
more easily from thence discover every danger that 
lies below, and the whole method of the devil in 
deceiving. Satan's temptations are laid on the earth : 
earth is the place, and earth is the ordinary bait. 
How shall these ensnare the Christian who has left 
the earth, and walks with God ? Christians, do you 
not sensibly perceive, that when your hearts are 
seriously fixed on heaven, you immediately become 
wiser than before ? Are not your understandings 
more solid ; and your thoughts more sober ; and your 
apprehensions more true than before ? 

It is this that makes a dying man usually wiser than 
other men, because he looks on eternity as near ; and, 
knowing he must very shortly be there, he has more 
deep and heart-piercing thoughts of it, than he used 
to have in the time of health and prosperity. Hence 
it is, that many who were cheated with the world, 
and bewitched by sin, then come to themselves, so far 
as to have a more correct judgment than they had ; 
and that some of the most bitter enemies of the saints 
would give a world to be saints themselves, and 
would fain die in the condition of those whom they 
hated, even as Balaam, when he said, " Let me die 
the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like 
his." Surely, a believer, if he improve his faith, may 
ordinarily have truer and more quickening apprehen- 
sions of the life to come, in the time of his health, 
than an unbeliever has at the hour of his death. 

3. A heavenly mind is fortified against temptations, 



244 MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MIN'DEDNESS. 

because the affections are prepossessed with the high 
delights of another world. When a man is not affected 
with good, though his understanding clearly appre- 
hends the truth, it is easy for salan to entice his soul. 
Mere speculations, however true, which sink not into 
th< affections, are poor preservatives against tempta- 
tions. He that loves most, and not he that knows 
most, will most easily resist the motions of sin. There 
is m a Christian a kind of spiritual taste, whereby he 
knows these things as well as by the mere reasoning 
faculty. The will as sweetly relishes goodness, as the 
understanding does truth, and here lies much of a 
Christian's strength. When thou hast had a fresh, 
delightful taste of heaven, thou wilt not be so easily 
persuaded from it. that you Avould be persuaded 
to try this course, to be much in feeding on the hidden 
manna, to he frequently tasting the delights of heaven. 
How would this elevate thy resolutions, and make 
thee laugh at the follies of the world, and scorn to be 
cheated with such childish toys ! If the devil had 
assaulted Peter on the mount, when he beheld the 
transfiguration of Christ, and Moses and Elias talking 
with him, would he so easily have drawn him to 
deny his Lord, with all that glory before his eyes? 
No ! the devil took a greater advantage, when he had 
him in the high priest's hall, in the midst of danger 
and evil company, and his master appeared shorn of 
all his glory, — and then he prevailed. So, if he 
should assault a Christian, when he is in the mount 
with Christ, what would such a soul say ? " Get thee 
behind me, Satan : wouldst thou persuade me with 
trilling pleasures, and steal my heart from this my 
cest? Wouldst thou have me sell these joys for 
nothing? Is there any honour or delight, compared 
with this? Or can that be profit which loseth me 
this?" 

4. If the heart is set on heaven, a man is under 
God's protection; and therefore, if satan then assault 
him, God is more engaged to defend him. lie will 
doubtless stand by us, and say, "My grace issutlieient 
for thee, and my strength shall be made perfect in thy 



MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNES& 345 

weakness.' 3 When a man is in the way of God's 
blessing, he is in less danger of sin's enticings. 

Let me, then, entreat thee, Christian, whilst thou art 
exposed to temptation in this sinful world, to use 
much this powerful remedy. Keep close with God, 
by a heavenly walk, and, when temptation comes, 
turn thy thoughts to heaven. Thou wilt find this a 
surer remedy than any resistance thou canst make. 

V. Consider that a heart set on heaven will pre- 
serve the vigour of all your graces, and put life into 
all your duties. It is the heavenly Christian that is 
the lively Christian; and, on the other hand, it is our 
strangeness to heaven that makes us so dull and life- 
less. It is the end that quickens to the use of all the 
means ; and the more frequently and clearly this end 
is beheld, the more vigorous will all our motions be. 
How unweariedly do men labour, and how fearlessly 
do they venture, when they have the prospect of a 
rich prize ! How will the soldier hazard his life, and 
the mariner pass through stormy oceans, and compass 
sea and land, in the hope of acquiring an uncertain, 
perishing treasure ! what life then would it put 
into a Christian's endeavours, if he would frequently 
think of his everlasting treasure ? We run slowly, 
and strive sluggishly, because we so little mind the 
prize. Thy life is in heaven, and thy strength is in 
heaven, and thence thou must daily fetch them, if thou 
wilt have them. For want of this recourse to heaven, 
thy soul is as a candle that is not lighted, and thy 
duties as a sacrifice which has no fire. Light thy 
candle at this flame, and feed it daily with oil from 
thence, and see if it will not shine. Fetch one coal 
daily from this altar, and see if thy offerings will not 
burn. Keep close to this reviving fire, and see if thy 
affections will not be warm. Thou bewailest thy 
want of love to God, lift up then the eye of faith to 
Heaven ; behold his beauty, contemplate his excellen- 
cies, and see whether his amiableness will not fire thy 
affections, and his perfect goodness rejoice thy heart. 

Besides, the fire which you fetch from heaven for 
your sacrifices, is no false or strange fire : as your live- 

21 * 



♦ # 



246 MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 

liness will be greater, so will it also be more sincere. 
A man may have a great deal of fervor in affections 
and duties, and all prove but common and unsound, 

when raised upon common grounds and motives. 
Your zeal will partake of the nature of those things 
by which it is actuated; the zeal therefore which is 
kindled by your meditations on heaven, is likely to 
prove an heavenly zeal ; and the liveliness of spirit 
which you bring from the face of God, will be a 
divine life. 

VI. Consider that frequent believing views of glory 
are the most precious cordial under the afflictions of 
life ; first, to sustain our spirits, and make our suffer- 
ings far more easy ; secondly, to keep us from repining, 
and make us endure them with patience and joy ; and, 
thirdly, to strengthen our resolutions, that we forsake 
not Christ for tear of trouble. What will not a be- 
liever endure, when he thinks of the rest to which it 
tends? What if the way be rough? Can it be 
tedious, if it lead to heaven? sweet sickness ! sweet 
reproaches, imprisonments, or death, which conduct 
to our future rest The Christian may say as David, 
" I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the good- 
ness oi' the Lord in the land of the living." He may 
say of tin; promise of this rest, as David of God's 
law, " Unless it had been my delight, I had perished 
in mine affliction," As therefore, thou wilt then be 
ready with David to pray, "Be not far from me, for 
trouble is near ;" so let it be thy own chief care not 
to be far from God and heaven when trouble is near, 
and thou wilt then find him to be unto thee " a very 
present help in trouble." Then, "though the fig-tree 
should not blosson, neither should firuil be in the vine; 
though the labour of the olive should fail, and the 
fields should yield no meat ; though the flock should 
be cut oil' from the fold, and there should be no herd 
in the stall : yet mayst thou rejoice in the Lord, and 
joy in the God of thy salvation." No sufferings are 
my thing to us, si) far as we have the foresight of this 
salvation. Neither bolts, nor bars, nor distance of 
place can shut out these supporting joys, because they 



» • 



MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MIXPEDXESS. 247 

cannot confine our faith and thoughts, although they 
may confine our flesh* Christ and faith arc both 
spiritual, and therefore, prisons and banishments can- 
not hinder their intercourse. Even when persecution 

and Tear have shut the doors, Christ can conic in, and 
stand in the midst, and say to his disciples, k - Peace he 
unto you." Paul and Silas can he in heaven, even 
when they are locked up in the inner prison, and their 
bodies scourged, and their feet fast in the stocks. The 
martyrs found more rest amidst the ilanies, than their 
persecutors amidst all their pomp and tyranny, because 
they foresaw the ilamcs they escaped, and the rest to 
which that fiery chariot was conveying them. It is not 
the place that gives rest, but the presence of Christ in 
it. Why then, Christian, keep thy soul above with 
Christ ; be as little as may be out of his company, and 
then all conditions will be alike to thee ; for that is 
the best estate to thee, in which thou possessest most 
of him. Nothing can make us rejoice in tribulation, 
except we can draw our joy from heaven. How came 
Abraham to leave his country, and follow God he 
knew not whither ? Why, because " he looked for a 
city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker 
is God." What made Moses choose to suffer afflic- 
tion with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the 
pleasures of sin for a season, and to esteem the re- 
proach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of 
Egypt ? It was because " he had respect to the recom- 
pense of reward." Yea, it is evident that our Lord 
himself drew encouragement under his sufferings from 
the foresight of his glory : " For the joy that was set 
before him," says the apostle, " he endured the cross, 
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand 
of the throne of God." Who, indeed, can wonder 
that pain, and sorrow, poverty and sickness, should be 
exceedingly grievous to that man who cannot see the 
end ; or that death should be the king of terrors to him 
who cannot see the life beyond it ? He that looks not 
on the end of his sufferings, as well as on the suffer- 
ings themselves, must needs lose the whole consola- 
tion : " And if he see not the peaceable fruits of 



248 MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MIXDEDNESS. 

righteousness/ 1 which they afterwards yield, they can- 
not to him "be joyous, but grievous." This is the 
noble advantage of faith : it can look on the means 
and the end together. This also is the reason why 
we pity ourselves more than God pities us, though we 
love not ourselves so much as he loves us; and why 
we would have the cup to pass iroiu us, when he will 
make us drink it up. We pity ourselves with an 
ignorant pity, and would be saved from the cross, 
which is the way to save us. God sees our glory as 
well as our suffering ; and sees our suffering as it con- 
duces to our glory : he sees at once our cross and our 
crown, and therefore, pities us the less, and will not 
let us have our wills. Believe me, brethren, this is 
the great reason of our mistakes, our impatience, our 
censuring of God, our sorrow at sickness and at 
death: — we gaze on the evil itself, but fix not our 
thoughts on what is beyond it. If we did but clearly 
see heaven, as the end of all God's dealings with us, 
surely none of his dealings would appear grievous. 
If thou canst but learn this way to heaven, and get 
thy soul acquainted there, thou needest not be unfur- 
nished with the choicest cordials, to revive thy spirits 
under every affliction ; thou knowest where to have 
them whenever thou needest them : thou mayest have 
arguments at hand to answer all that the devil or the 
flesh can say to thy discomfort. If thou wouldst end 
thy days in peace, and close thy dying eyes with com- 
fort, die daily ; live now in heaven ; be much with 
Christ, and thy soul shall bless the day thou tookest 
this counsel. 

VII. Consider that a heart set on heaven, makes a 
man profitable to all about him. When a man is in a 
strange laud, how glad is he to meet with one of his own 
nation ! how delightful is it to them to talk of their 
country,of their acquaintance, and of the affairs of their 
home ! Now with a heavenly Christian thou mayest 
have such a discourse; for he has been there in the 
spirit, and can tell thee of the glory and rest above. 
(), how refreshing are his expressions; how his words 
pierce and melt the heart ; how they transform the 



MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY IMIXDEDXESS. 219 

hearers into oilier men, so that they think they arc in 
heaven all the while! How docs his « doctrine drop 

as the ram, and his speech distil as the dew, as the 
small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers 
upon the grass!' 3 His feeling, sweet discourse of 
heaven, is like the box of precious ointment, which 
being poured on the head of Christ, filled the house 
with the odour of its perfume. All that are near may 
be refreshed by it. This is the companion who will 
watch over thy ways, who will strengthen thee when 
thou art weak, who will cheer thee when thou art dis- 
consolate, who will comfort thee with the same com- 
forts wherewith he himself has been so often com- 
forted. 

VIII. Consider that a heart set on heaven is hon- 
ourable to God. No man so highly honours God, as 
he who has his conversation in heaven : and with- 
out this we deeply dishonour him. Is it not a dishon- 
our to our Father in heaven, when we who call our- 
selves his children, feed on earth, and the garb of our 
souls is like that of the world, when we might have 
daily admittance into his presence chamber ? Surely 
we live not as becomes the children of a King, even 
of the great King of all the world ; we live not ac- 
cording to the height of our hopes, nor according to 
the plenty that is in the promises, nor according to 
the provision of our Father's house, and the great 
preparations which he has made for his saints. But 
0, when a Christian lives above, and rejoices in the 
things that are unseen, — how does God take himself 
to be honoured by him ! " Them that honour me," 
says God, " I will honour ; but they that despise me 
shall be lightly esteemed." 

IX. If thou neglect this duty of keeping thy heart 
in heaven, thou disobeyest the express command of 
God, and dost lose the comfort of the sweet parts of 
Scripture, and frustrate the prepartions he has made 
for thy joy. 

1. Thou disobeyest the command of God. He has 
not left it as a thing indifferent, and at thy own choice, 
whether or not thou wilt have thy heart in heaven. 



250 MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNES9. 

He has made it thy duty, as well as thy interest, that 
so a double bond may tie thee not to forsake thy own 
mercies. " If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those 
things which are above ; set your affections on things 
above, not on things on the earth." The same God 
that has commanded thee to believe, and to be a 
Christian, has commanded thee to set thy affections 
above. The same God that has forbidden thee to 
murder, to steal, to commit adultery, has forbidden 
thee to neglect this great duty. And darest thou dis- 
obey him ? Why makest thou not conscience of the 
one duty, as well as of the other ? 

2. Thou losest the comforts of the sweetest parts of 
Scripture. All those glorious descriptions of heaven, 
all those discoveries of our future blessedness, all God's 
revelations of his gracious purposes towards us, all 
his precious promises of rest, are lost to thee. Are 
not these the stars in the firmament of the Scripture, 
the golden lines in the book of God ? Of all the Bible, 
methinks, thou shouldst not part with one of these 
promises, no, not for a world. As heaven is the per- 
fection of all our mercies, so the promises of it in the 
gospel, are the very soul of the gospel. That word 
which was sweeter to David than the honey and the 
honey-comb, and to Jeremiah the joy and rejoicing 
of his heart, — the most pleasant part of this thou 
losest. 

3. Thou dost frustrate the preparations of Christ for 
thy joy, and makest him speak in vain. Is a comfort- 
able word from the mouth of God of so great worth, 
that all the comforts of the world are nothing to it ? 
And dost thou neglect and overlook so many of them ? 
Why should God reveal so much of his counsel, and 
tell us beforehand of the joys we shall possess, but 
that he would have us know it for our joy ? If it had 
not been to make our present life comfortable, and fill 
us with the delights of our future blessedness, he might 
have kept his purpose to himself, and never have let 
us know till we came to enjoy it, nor have revealed it 
to us till death discovered what he meant to do with 
us in the world to come ; yea, when we had got pos- 



MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 251 

session of our rest, he might still have concealed its 
eternity from us; and then the fears of losing it again 
would have bereaved us of much of the sweetness of 
our joys. But it has pleased our heavenly Father to 
open his counsel, to let us know the designs of his 
heart, to acquaint us with the eternal extent of his 
love ; and all this that our " joy may be fall," and we 
may live as the heirs of such a kingdom ; and shall 
we now overlook all, as if he had revealed no such 
matter ? Shall we live in earthly cares and sorrows, 
as if we knew of no such blessedness ? that our 
hearts were as high as our hopes, and our hopes as 
high as these infallible promises ! 

X. Consider it is "but just that our hearts should be 
on God, when the heart of God is so much on us. If 
the Lord of glory can stoop so low, as to set his heart 
on sinful dust, surely one would think we should be 
easily persuaded to raise our hearts on high to Christ 
and glory, to ascend to him in our daily affections, 
who condescends to us. Oh ! if God delighted no 
more in us, than we in him, what would we do ! In 
what a deplorable case would we be ! Christian, dost 
thou not perceive that the heart of God is /<set upon 
thee, and that he remembers thee with tender love, 
even when thou forgettest both thyself and him ? Dost 
thou not find him following thee with daily mer- 
cies, moving upon thy soul, providing for thy body, 
and preserving both ? Does he not bear thee continu- 
ally in the arms of love, and give his angels charge 
over thee, and promise " that all things shall work 
together for thy good ?" And canst thou find in thy 
heart, to be taken up with earthly toys, and to forget 
thy Lord, who forgets not thee ? When he speaks of 
his own regards to us, hear what he says : — " But 
Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord 
hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking 
child, that she should not have compassion on 
the son of her womb? Yea, she may forget, yet 
will I not forget thee : Behold, I have graven thee 
upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are con- 
tinually before me." But when he speaks of our 



252 MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 

regards to him, how different are his words ! " Can 
a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire ? 
Yet my people have forgotten me, days without num- 
ber." Ah! vile ingratitude. Is not this the sin 
which Isaiah so solemnly calls both heaven and earth 
to witness against ? " Hear, heavens ! and give ear, 
O earth ! for the Lord hath spoken. The ox knoweth 
his owner, and the ass his master's crib ; but Israel 
dotli not know, my people doth not consider." O 
brethren give not God cause to expostulate thus with 
you ; but rather admire his minding of you, and let 
this draw your mind again to him, and say as Job, 
" What is man that thou shouldst magnify him, and 
that thou shouldst set thy heart upon him, and that 
thou shouldst visit him every morning, and try him 
every moment ?" Let thy soul ascend to God, and 
visit him every morning, and let thy heart be towards 
him every moment. 

XI. Consider, should not our interest in heaven, and 
our relation to it, continually keep our hearts upon it? 
Why, there our Father keeps his court ; and accord- 
ingly in our prayers we call him " Our Father which 
art in heaven." Ah ! ungracious children, that can 
be so taken up with things here below, as to be un- 
mindful of such a Father ! There too is Christ our 
head, our husband, our life ; and shall we not look 
towards him, till we come and see him face to face ? 
There are multitudes of our elder brethren, many of 
them our friends and our ancient acquaintance, whose 
society in the flesh we so much delighted in, and 
whose departure hence we so much lamented. And 
is this no attraction to thy thoughts ? If they were 
within thy reach on earth, thou wouldst go and visit 
them, and why wilt thou not oftener visit them in 
spirit, and rejoice to think of thy meeting them there 
again ? " Socrates rejoiced," said Bullinger, " that he 
should die, because he believed he would see Homer, 
and Hesiod, and other illustrious men ; how much 
more do I rejoice, who am sure to see Christ my Sa- 
viour, the eternal son of God, in his assumed flesh ; 
and, likewise, so many holy and excellent men, the 



MOTIVES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 253 

patriarchs and prophets, the apostles and martyrs." 
Moreover, our house and home is above ; for " we 
know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle were 
dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not 
made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Why 
then do we look no oftener towards it, and groan not 
more earnestly, " desiring to be clothed upon with our 
house which is from heaven?" We are strangers 
here, and that is our country : we are heirs, and that 
is our inheritance, even " an inheritance incorruptible 
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in 
heaven for us." We are here in continual distress 
and want, and there lies our substance, even that 
"better and more enduring substance." Yea, the 
very hope of our souls is there ; all our hope of relief 
from our distresses ; all our hope of happiness ; all this 
hope is laid up for us in heaven. Why, beloved 
Christians, have we so much interest, and yet so few 
thoughts there ? Why have we so near relation, and 
so little affection ? Does it become us to be delighted 
with the company of strangers, so as to forget our 
Father, and our Lord ? or to be so well pleased with 
those that hate and grieve us, as to forget our best 
and dearest friends ? or to be so enraptured with toys 
and trifles, as to forget our inheritance and our trea- 
sure ? 0, that we could mind our own inheritance, 
and value it but half as much as it deserves ! 

Lastly, Consider there is nothing else worth setting 
our hearts upon. If God have them not, who or what 
shall have them ? If thou mind not thy everlasting 
rest, what wilt thou mind ? Hast thou found out 
some other God, or heaven ? or something that will 
serve thee instead of rest ? Hast thou found on earth 
an eternal happiness ? Ah sinner ! trust not to thy 
discoveries ; boast not of thy gain, till experience bid 
thee boast, or rather take up with the experience of 
thy forefathers, who are now in the dust, and who 
found that all on earth was vanity and vexation of 
spirit. I would advise thee not to make experiments 
at so dear a rate, as all those do that seek after happi- 
ness, here below ; lest, when the substance is lost, thou 

22 



254 HINDER ANTES TO HEAVENLY MTNDEDNESS. 

find, when it is too late, thai thou didst catch but a 
shadow. I wotdd wish thee not to trouble thyself 
in looking for that which is not on earth, lest thou 
learn thy experience with the loss of thy soul, which 
thou Brightest have learned on easier terms, even by 
the warnings of Sod in his word, and by the loss of 
thousands of souls before thee. 

Thus I have given thee various arguments to con- 
sider of, and if it may be, to persuade thee to an 
heavenly life. I now entreat thee to review them. 
Read them deliberately, and read them again, and 
then tell me, Are they reason or are they not? Are 
these considerations weighty, or are they not ? Are 
these arguments convincing, or are they not ? Have 
I proved it thy duty, and of absolute necessity, to keep 
thy heart on things above, or have I not ? I have 
now a few plain directions to give you, to help you in 
performing this great work ; but alas ! it is in vain to 
mention them, unless you be willing to put them in 
practice. What say est thou, reader ? Art thou will- 
ing, or art thou not ? Wilt thou obey, if I show thee 
the way of thy duty ? However, I will set them down, 
and offer them to thee, and may the Lord persuade 
thy heart to the work ! 



CHAPTER II. 

HINDERANCES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 

The first exhortation which I must here give thee is 
to avoid some dangerous hinderances which otherwise 
will keep thee from this work, as they have done 
many thousand souls before thee. If I show thee 
briefly where the rocks and gulfs lie ; if I erect a mark 
over every quicksand, I hope thou wilt beware of 
them. As, therefore, thou valuest the comforts of a 
heavenly life, I here charge thee before God to avoid 
most carefully the following impediments. 



IIIXDERANCES TO HEAVENLY MIXDEPNESS. 255 

I. Beware of living in known unmortified sin. 
what havoc will this make in thy soul ! 0, the joys 
that it has destroyed, the blessed communion with 

God, that it has interrupted ! the ruins that it has 
mad rags! men's graces ! but, above all others, it is 

especially an enemy to this great duty. 

Christian, I desire thee iu the tear of God, stay 
here a little, and search thy heart. Art thou one that 
has used violence with thy conscience ? Art thou a 
wilful neglecter of known duties, either public, pri- 
vate, or secret ? Art thou a slave to thine appetite, 
in eating or drinking, or to any other commanding 
sense ? Art thou a proud seeker of esteem and hon- 
our, a man that must needs have other men's good 
opinion ? Art thou a peevish and passionate person, 
ready to take fire at every word, or look, or every 
supposed slighting of thee, or every neglect of compli- 
ment or courtesy ? Art thou a knowing deceiver of 
others in thy dealings ? Or one that has set thyself to 
rise in the world, be the means what they may ? If 
this be thy case, I dare say heaven and thy soul are 
great strangers : I dare say thou art seldom in heart 
with God, and there is little hope it will ever be better 
with thee, as long as thou continuest in these trans- 
gressions. Every wilful sin that thou livest in, will 
be to thy comforts as water to the fire. When thou 
thinkest to quicken them, this will quench them; when 
thy heart begins to draw near to God, this will fill 
thee with doubting, and cover thee with shame. Be- 
sides sin utterly indisposes and disables thee for this 
work. When thou shouldst wind up thy heart to 
heaven, alas, it is biased another way ; it is entangled 
in the lusts of the flesh, and can no more ascend in 
divine meditation, than the bird can fly whose wings 
are clipped, or that is entangled in the snare. If hea- 
ven and hell can meet together, and if God can be- 
come a lover of sin, then mayst thou live in thy sin, 
and yet taste of glory, and have a conversation in 
heaven, though thou cherish thy corruption. If, there- 
fore, thou find thyself guilty, never doubt but that this 
is the cause which estranges thee from heaven ; and 



99 



256 HINDERANCES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 

take heed lest it at last keep out thyself, as it now 
keeps out thy heart 

Resolve then to keep from the occasions of sin, and, 
as much as possible, out of the way of temptation. 
The strongest Christian is unsafe among occasions of 
sin. what need have we to pray daily, " Lead us 
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil ? And 
shall we pray against occasions of sin, and yet cast 
ourselves upon them ? Christ thought it not unneces 
sary to say to his disciples, " Remember Lot's wife ; 
" What I say to one, I say unto all, Watch." 

II. Beware of earthly-mindedness. You may easily 
conceive, that this cannot consist with a heavenly 
mind. God and mammon, earth and heaven, cannot 
both have possession of thy heart. If thou be a man 
that hast fancied to thyself, some content or happiness 
to be found on earth, and beginnest to taste a sweet- 
ness in gain, and to aspire after a fuller and higher 
estate, believe me, thou art marching with thy back 
upon Christ, and art posting apace from this heavenly 
life. Why, the world has that from thee, which God 
has from the heavenly Christian. When he is bless- 
ing himself in his God, and rejoicing in hope of the 
glory to come, thou art blessing thyself in thy pros- 
perity, and rejoicing in hope of thy thriving on earth. 
When he is solacing his soul with the views of Christ, 
of the angels and the saints with whom he shall live 
for ever, thou art comforting thyself in looking at thy 
bills and bonds, thy money, thy goods, thy cattle, thy 
buildings, thy lands ; in thinking of the favour of 
some great ones of the earth, of the pleasure of a 
plentiful estate, of a larger provision for thy children, 
and of the advancement of thy family. Dost thou 
not delight and please thyself with daily rolling these 
thoughts in thy mind, when a gracious soul should 
have higher delights? If Christ pronounced him a 
fool that said, " Soul, take thine ease, thou hast goods 
laid up for many years," how much more so art thou, 
who knowing this/ yet takest not warning, but in thy 
heart speakest the same words ! Look them over 
seriously, and tell me what difference there is between 



HINDERANCES TO HEAVENLY MIXPEDNESS. 257 

this foot's expressions and thy affections. I doubt not 

hut thou hast more sense than to speak thy mind just 
in his language, but remember thou hast to do with 
the searoher of hearts. It may be thou boldest on in 
thy course of duty, and prayest as oh as thou didst 
before, and keepest in with good ministers, and with 
godly men, and seemest as forward in religion as ever. 
But what is all this to the purpose? Mock not thy 
soul, lor God will not be so mocked. What good 
may yet remain in thee. I know not; but sure I am, 
thy course is dangerous, and, if thou follow it on, will 
end in sorrow. Christian, who hast tasted of the 
pleasures of a heavenly life, I advise thee, as thou 
vainest their enjoyment, as ever thou wouidst taste of 
them any more, take heed of this gulf of an earthly 
mind ; for if once thou come to this, that thou wilt be 
rich, thou wilt " fall into temptation and a snare, and 
into divers foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men 
in perdition. " Keep the things of the world as thy 
upper garments, loose about thee, that thou mayest 
lay them aside, whenever there is cause ; but let God 
and glory be next thy heart, yea, as the very blood 
and spirit by which thou livest. Let these solemn 
warnings be engraven on thy heart : " The friendship 
of the world is enmity with God ; Whosoever, there- 
fore, will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of 
God/' " Love not the world, neither the things that 
are in the world : if any man love the world, the love 
of the Father is not in him." 

III. Beware of the company of ungodly men. Not 
that I would dissuade thee from necessary intercourse 
with them, or from doing them any office of love ; 
especially not from endeavouring the good of their 
souls, as long as thou hast any opportunity or hope ; 
but it is the unnecessary society of ungodly men, and 
too much familiarity with unprofitable companions, 
though they be not so apparently ungodly, that I dis- 
suade you from. There are many persons whom we 
may not avoid, or excommunicate out of the church, nor 
out of our private society, whom yet we must exclude 
from too much familiarity with us, by way of pru- 



25S IIINDERANCES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 

deuce, for the preservation of ourselves. It is not 
only the openly profane, the swearer, the drunkard, 
and the enemies of godliness, that will prove hurtful 
companions to us, though these indeed are to be par- 
ticularly avoided ; but too frequent society with dead- 
hearted formalists, or persons merely civil and moral, 
may much divert our thoughts from heaven, and do 
ourselves a great deal of harm. As mere idleness 
and forgetfulness of God, will keep a soul as certainly 
from heaven, as a profane, licentious, fleshly life ; so 
also will the useless company of such negligent for- 
getful persons as surely keep our hearts from heaven, 
as the company of men more dissolute and profane. 
Nay, if thou hadst newly been warming thy heart in 
the contemplation of the blessed joys above, would 
not their discourse benumb thine affections, and quickly 
freeze thy heart again? I appeal to the judgment 
of any man that has tried it, and made observations 
on the frame of his spirit. Men cannot well talk of 
one thing, and mind another, especially things of such 
different natures. In a word, our company will be 
part of our happiness in heaven, and it is a singular 
part of our furtherance to it, or hinderance from it. 
We are usually like the society with which we most 
converse. He that never found it hard to have a 
heavenly mind in earthly company, must certainly 
never have tried the experiment. 

IV. As you value the comforts of a heavenly life, 
beware of a proud and lofty spirit. There is such an 
antipathy between this sin and God, that thou wilt 
never get thy heart near him, nor get him near thy 
heart, as long as this prevails in it. If pride cast the 
angels out of heaven that were in it, it must needs 
keep thy heart estranged from it. If it cast our first 
parents out of paradise, and brought the curse of God 
on all the creatures here below, it must needs keep 
our hearts from paradise, and increase our separation 
from God. Believe it, brethren, a proud heart and a 
heavenly heart are exceedingly contrary to each other. 
Intercourse with God will keep men low; and that 
lowliness will further their intercourse. When a man 






HINDERANCES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDXESS. 259 

is accustomed to be much vWth God, and is taken up 
in the study o{° his glorious attributes, he abhors him- 
self in dust and ashes; and that seli-ubhonvnce is his 
best preparative to obtain admittance to God again. 
The delight of God is an humble soul, even he that 
ontrite, and that trembles at his word; and the 
delight of an humble soul is in God: and surely, 
where there is this mutual delight, there will be the 
freest access, and heartiest welcome, and most frequent 
converse. Heaven could not hold God and the proud 
angels together, but an humble soul he makes his 
dwelling : and surely if our dwelling be with him, 
and his dwelling also be with us, there must needs be 
a most near and sweet familiarity. But the soul that 
is proud cannot plead this privilege. God is so far 
from dwelling with it, that he will not admit it to any 
near access, but looks upon it afar off. " He resisteth 
the proud ; but he giveth grace to the humble." 
Well, then, art thou a man of worth in thine own 
eyes, and very tender of thine esteem with others ? 
Art thou one that much valuest the applause of the 
people, and feelest elated when thou hearest of thy 
great esteem with men, and much dejected when thou 
findest that they slight thee ? Dost thou love those 
best who highly honour thee ; and does thy heart 
bear a grudge at those that thou thinkest do under- 
value thee, though they be otherwise men of godli- 
ness and honesty ? Art thou one that must needs 
have thy humours fulfilled, and thy judgments a rule 
to the judgments of others, and thy word a law to 
all about thee ? Art thou ready to quarrel with every 
man that lets fall a word derogatory to thy honour ? 
Art thou one that honourest the godly that are rich, 
and thinkest thyself somebody if they value and own 
thee, but lookest strangely at the godly poor, and art 
almost ashamed to be their companion ? Art thou 
one that canst not serve God in a low place as well as 
in a high ; and thinkest thyself the fittest for offices 
and honours ; and lovest God's service when it con 
sists with preferment ? Hast thou thine eye and thy 
speech much on thy own deservings ? And are thy 



260 HINDERANCES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 

boastings restrained more by prudence than by humi 
lity? Dost thou delight in opportunities of exhibiting 
thy talents, and lovest to have thy name made public 
to the world, and wouldst lain leave behind thee some 
monument of thy worth, that posterity may admire 
thee when thou art dead and gone? Dost thou 
employ artful circumlocutions to commend thyself, 
while thou seemest to abase thyself, and deny thy 
worth ? Art thou readier to defend thyself and main- 
tain thine innocency, than to accuse thyself, or confess 
thy fault ? Canst thou hardly bear a close reproof, 
and dost thou digest plain dealing with difficulty and 
distaste ? Art thou readier in thy discourse to teach 
than to learn ; to dictate to others, than to hearken to 
their instructions ? Art thou bold and confident in thy 
own opinions, and little suspicious of the weakness of 
thy understanding, but a slighter of the judgment of 
all that are against thee ? Is thy spirit more disposed 
to command and govern, than it is to obey and be 
ruled by others? Art thou ready to censure the 
doctrine of thy teachers, and to think, if thou wert a 
minister, thou wouldst be more abundant and more 
faithful in thy labours ? If these symptoms be unde- 
niably in thy heart, beyond doubt thou art a proud 
person. And can this man possibly have his heart in 
heaven? It is possible his invention and memory may 
furnish his tongue both with humble and heavenly 
expressions, but in his spirit there is no more of 
heaven than there is of humility. 

Brethren, I intreat you to be very jealous of your 
souls in this point. There is nothing in the world 
which will more estrange you from God. Christian, 
if thou wouldst live continually in the presence of thy 
Lord, lie in the dust, and he will thence raise thee up. 
Learn of him to be meek and lowly, and then thou 
shall taste of this rest to thy soul. Thy soul else will 
be "as the troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose 
waters cast up mire and dirt/' Instead of sweet 
delight in God, thy pride will fill tine with perpetual 
disquietness. As he that " humble th himself as a 
little child," shall hereafter " be greatest m the king- 



HINDERANCES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 261 

dom of heaven," so shall he now be greatest in the 
foretastes of that kingdom; for as u whosoever exaiteth 
himself shall be abased," so "he that humbleth him- 
self shall/ 1 in both these respects, "be exalted." 

VI. Beware of slothfulness of spirit. Oh! if it were 
only the exercise of the body, the moving of the lips 
the bending of the knee; then it were an easy work 
indeed, and men would as commonly step to heaven, 
as they go a few miles to visit a friend. Yea, if it 
were to spend most of our days in numbering beads, 
and repeating certain words and prayers, " in a volun- 
tary humility, and neglecting of the body, after the 
commandments and doctrines of men," it were com- 
paratively easy. Or if it consisted in the outward 
performance of duties commanded by God, or in the 
exercise of talents and gifts, though we made such 
performance our daily trade, it were easy to be 
heavenly-minded. But it is a work more difficult 
than any or all of these. To separate our thoughts 
and affections from the world, to force them to a work 
of so high a nature, to draw forth all our graces in 
their order, and to exercise each on its proper object, 
to hold them to this, till they perceive success, and till 
the work thrives and prospers in their hands, — this, 
this is a difficult task. Christian, heaven is above 
thee, and the way is upward. Dost thou, who art a 
feeble, unholy creature, think to travel daily this steep 
ascent, without much labour and resolution ? Canst 
thou get that earthly heart to heaven, and bring that 
backward mind to God, while thou liest still, and 
takest thine ease ? If lying down at the foot of the 
hill, and looking toward the top, and wishing we 
were there, would serve the turn, then we would 
have daily travellers to heaven. But " the kingdom 
of heaven suffered! violence, and the violent take it 
by force." There must be violence used to get the 
first-fruits, as well as to get the full possession. Dost 
thou not feel it so, though I should not tell thee ? 
Dost thou find it easy to dwell on the delights above ? 
It is true, the work is exceedingly sweet ; there is no 
condition on earth so desirable 5 but therefore it is 



262 HINDERAXCES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 

that our hearts are so backward, especially in the 
beginning, till we are acquainted with it. how 
many hundred professors of religion are there, who 
can easily bring their hearts to ordinary duties, as 
reading, hearing, praying, who could never yet, in all 
their lives, bring them and keep them to a heavenly 
contemplation one half hour together! Consider here, 
reader, as before the Lord, whether this be not thine 
own case. Thou knowest that heaven is thy only 
hope ; thou knowest, that a heart seldom thinking of 
heaven, can fetch but little comfort thence ; and dost 
thou yet, notwithstanding all this, let slip thy oppor- 
tunities, and grovel below in mere duties, when thou 
shouldst walk above, and live with God ? Dost thou 
commend the sweetness of a heavenly life, and judge 
those the most excellent Christians that use it, — and 
yet dost thou never once try it thyself? How many 
hundreds read books, and hear sermons, in expecta- 
tion of hearing of some easy course, or of meeting 
with a shorter way to comfort than they are ever 
likely to find in this world ! And if they can hear of 
none from the preachers of truth, they will snatch it 
with rejoicing from the teachers of falsehood. 

There arc also a multitude of professors who come 
and incpiire for marks and signs, — " How shall I know 
whether my heart be sincere ?" and they think the 
bare naming of some marks is enough to discover 
them ; but they never employ one hour in trying them- 
selves by the marks they hear. So here they ask for 
directions for a heavenly life ; and if the hearing and 
knowing of these directions would serve, they would 
be heavenly Christians. But if we set them to task, 
and show them their work, and tell them they cannot 
have these delights on easier terms, — then they leave 
us, as the young man left Christ with sorrow. My 
advice to such a lazy professor is this : As you are 
convinced that this work is necessary to thy comforta- 
ble living, set about it resolvedly. If thy heart draw 
back, and be indisposed, force it on with the command 
of reason ; and if thy reason begin to dispute the duty, 
produce the command of God ; and urge it forward by 



HTTITDERANCES TO UKWKN'LV MINDEDNESS. 263 

tlie consideration of thy necessity, and the other motives 
before propounded. Let not such an incomparable 
treasure lie before thee, while thou liest still with thy 
hand in thy bosom. Let not thy life be a continual 
vexation, while it might be a continual feast. When 
thou hast once tasted of the sweetness of the duty, and 
a little accustomed thy heart to it, thou wilt find the 
pains thou takest with thy backward flesh abundantly 
recompensed in the pleasures of thy spirit. 

As I have seldom known Christians perplexed with 
doubts about their state, for want of knowing right 
evidences by which to try themselves, so much as for 
want of skill and diligence in using them, so have I 
seldom known a Christian that wants the joys of this 
heavenly life, for want of knowing the means to get 
it, but for want of a heart to set about the work, and 
painfully to use the means they know. It is " the 
field of the slothful" that is " overgrown with thorns ;" 
and "the desire of the slothful killeth" his joys, because 
"his hands refuse to labour." While he lies wishing, 
his soul lies starving. He says " There is a lion in the 
way, there is a lion in the streets, and turneth himself on 
his bed as a door turneth on the hinges : He hideth his 
hand in his bosom, and it grieveth him to bring it to his 
mouth," though it be to feed himself with the bread 
of life. What is this but despising the feast prepared, 
and setting light by the dear bought pleasures, and 
consequently, by the precious blood that purchased 
them, and throwing away our own consolations ? The 
Holy Spirit has told us, that " he that is slothful in 
his work is brother to him that is a great waster." 
Apply this to thy spiritual work, and study well the 
meaning of it. 

VII. Beware of contenting yourselves with the 
mere preparatives to this heavenly life, while you are 
utter strangers to the life itself. It is a most danger- 
ous thing to take up with the mere study of heavenly 
things, and the notions and thoughts of them in our 
understanding, or the talking of them with one another, 
as if this were all that is necessary to make us heavenly 
people. There are none in more danger of this snare, 



264 HINDERANCES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 

than those who are much in public duty, especially 
ministers of the Gospel. how easily may they be 
deceived, while they do nothing more than read of 
heaven, and study of heaven, and preach of heaven, 
and pray and talk of heaven ! What, is not this a 
heavenly life ! that God would reveal to our hearts 
the danger of this snare. Alas ! all this is but mere 
preparation. This is not the life we speak of, though 
it is indeed, a very useful help thereto. I entreat 
every one of my brethren in the ministry, that they 
search and watch against this temptation. Alas ! this 
is but gathering the materials, not erecting the build- 
ing ; this is but gathering the manna for others, not 
eating and digesting it ourselves. As he that sits at 
home may study geography, and give very exact de- 
scriptions of countries, which yet he never saw nor 
travelled to ; so may you describe to others the joys 
of heaven, and yet never partake of them yourselves. 
As a blind man may dispute of light and colours, so 
may you set forth to others that heavenly light, where- 
with your own souls were never enlightened, and 
bring that fire for the hearts of your people, that 
never once warmed your own hearts. If you should 
study of nothing but heaven while you lived, and 
preach of nothing but heaven to your people, yet 
might your own hearts be strangers to it. What 
heavenly passages had Balaam in his prophecies, yet 
was there little of it in his spirit. Nay, we are under 
a more subtle temptation than any other men, to draw 
us from this heavenly life. If our employments were 
at a greater distance from heaven, and took up our 
thoughts about worldly things, we should not be so 
apt to be contented and deluded ; but when we find 
ourselves employed upon nothing else, we are more 
easily drawn to take up with it. Studying and preach- 
ing of heaven more resembles an heavenly life, than 
thinking and talking of the world, and the resemblance 
is apt to deceive us. This is to die a most miserable 
death, even to famish ourselves, because we have 
bread on our tables, which is worse than to famish 
when we cannot get it : it is to die of thirst while we 



HELPS TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 265 

draw water for others, thinking it enough that we 
have daily to do with it, though we never drink to 
the refreshment of our own souls. 



CHAPTER III. 

HELPS TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 

Having thus shown thee the hinderances in thy way, 
I shall now lay before thee some general helps to a 
heavenly life. But first, I expect that thou wilt 
resolve against the hinderances now mentioned, and 
avoid them faithfully, or else thy labour will be all in 
vain. Thou dost but go about to reconcile light and 
darkness, Christ and Belial, heaven and hell in thy 
spirit, if thou do not this. I must tell thee also, that I 
expect thy promise, faithfully to use the helps which I 
shall offer to thee ; and that the reading of them will 
not bring heaven into thy heart, but the constant prac- 
tice of them will do it. It were better for thee I had 
never written them, and thou hadst never read them, 
if thou do not buckle on thy armour for this exercise. 
As then thou valuest the delights of these foretastes 
of heaven, make conscience of performing the follow- 
ing duties : 

I. Impress thy heart with the consideration that 
heaven is the only treasure, and labour to know also 
what a treasure it is. If thou do not truly believe it 
to be the chief good, thou wilt never set thy heart 
upon it. This must not only be the conviction of thy 
understanding, but it must sink deep into thy affec- 
tions ; for if it be only a notion in thy head, it will 
never much influence thy heart. As long as your 
judgments undervalue it, your affections must needs 
be cold towards it. If your judgment prefer the 
delights of the flesh before the delights in the presence 
of God, it is impossible that your hearts should be in 
heaven. As it is ignorance of the emptiness of things 

23 



266 HELPS TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 

below that makes men so overvalue them; so it is 
ignorance of the high delights above, which is the 
cause that men so little mind them. 

II. Labour to know heaven not merely as the only 
happiness, but as thy own happiness. Though the 
knowledge of excellency and suitableness may excite 
that love which works by desire ; yet there must be 
the knowledge of our interest in it, to produce our 
love of complacency. We may confess heaven to be 
the best condition, though we despair of enjoying it ; 
and we may desire and seek it, if we see the acquisi- 
tion of it to be but probable and hopeful : but we can 
never delightfully rejoice in it, till we are somewhat 
persuaded of our title to it. What comfort is it to a 
man that is naked, to see the rich attire of others ; or 
to a man that is hungry, to see a feast of which he 
must not taste ? Would not all this rather increase 
his anguish, and make him more sensible of his own 
misery ? So, for a man to know the excellencies of 
heaven, and not to know whether he shall ever enjoy 
them, may well excite desire, but it will raise but 
little joy in his bosom. therefore, Christians, rest 
not till you can call this rest your own. Sit not down 
without assurance. Get alone, and bring thy heart to 
the bar of trial ; force it to answer the interrogatories 
put to it ; set the qualifications of the saints on one 
side, and the qualifications of thy soul on the other 
side, and then judge what resemblance there is 
between them. Thou hast the same word before 
thee, by which to judge thyself now, as thou shalt be 
judged by at the great day. Thou may est there read 
the very articles upon which thou shalt be tried ; try 
thyself by these articles now. Thou mayest there 
know beforehand on what terms men shall then be 
acquitted or condemned. Try now whether thou art 
possessed of that which will acquit thee, or whether 
thou be in the condition of those that will be con- 
demned ; and accordingly acquit or condemn thyself. 
Yet be sure thou judge by a true touchstone, and 
mistake not the Scripture description of a saint, that 
thou neither acquit nor condemn thyself by mistake ; 



IIELPS TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 267 

for as groundless hopes tend to confusion, and arc the 
greatest cause <>f most men's damnation, so groundless 
doubtings tend to perplexity, and are a great cause of 
the disquiet of the saints. Lay? therefore, thy grounds 
of trial safely and advisedly ; proceed in the work 
deliberately and methodically; follow it to an issue 
ilutely and perseveringly. Suiter not thy heart to 
give thee the slip, and get away before a judgment is 
passed ; but make it stay to hear its sentence. If once, 
or twice, or thrice will not do it, if a few days of hear- 
ing bring not the cause to an issue, follow it on with 
unwearied diligence ; give not over till the work be 
done, and till thou canst say either thou art, or art not 
a member of Christ, either that thou hast, or that thou 
hast not yet a title to this rest. Be sure thou rest not 
in wilful uncertainties. if men truly knew that 
God is their own Father, and Christ their own 
Redeemer, and heaven their own everlasting habita- 
tion, how could they choose but be delighted with the 
forethoughts of it ? Well, then, this is my advice to 
thee, that thou follow on the work of self-examination, 
till thou hast got assurance that this rest is thy own. 
This will draw thy heart unto it ; and feed thy spirit 
with fresh delights, which else will be but tormented 
so much the more, to think that there is such rest for 
others, but none for thee. 

III. Labour to apprehend how near thy rest is. 
Think seriously of its speedy approach. That which 
we think is near at hand, we are more sensible of, 
than that which we behold at a distance. When we 
hear of war or famine in another country, or in a dis- 
tant age, it troubles us not ; so, if we hear of peace 
and plenty a great way off, or of a golden age that 
shall fall out, nobody knows when, it scarcely rejoices 
us. But if judgments or mercies begin to draw near, 
then they affect us. If we were sure we should see 
the golden age, then it would rejoice us. When the 
plague is in a town but twenty miles off, we do not 
fear it ; nor much, perhaps, if it be in another street ; 
but if once it come to the next door, or if it seize on 
one in our own family, then we begin to think on it 



268 HELPS TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 

more feelingly. When judgments or mercies are afar 
off, we talk of them as marvels ; but when they draw 
near to us, we look on them as truths. This makes 
men think on heaven so insensibly, because they con- 
ceive of it at too great a distance. They look on it 
as twenty j or thirty, or forty years of; and this it is 
thai dulls their sense. As wicked men are fearless 
and senseless of judgment, "because sentence against 
their evil works is not speedily executed;" so are the 
godly cheated of their comforts, by supposing them 
further off than they are. This is the danger of put- 
ting the day of death far from us. When men pro- 
mise themselves longer time in the world than God 
lias promised them, and judge of the length of their 
lives by the probabilities they gather from their age, 
their health, their constitution, this makes them look 
at heaven as a great way off. If the rich fool in the 
gospel had not expected to live many years, he would 
surely have thought more of providing for eternity, 
and less of his present stores and possessions ; and if 
we did not think of staying many years out of heaven, 
we would think on it with far more joyful thoughts 
than we usually do. This expectation of long life 
does both the wicked and the godly inconceivable 
harm. How much better were it " to receive the sen- 
tence of death in ourselves," and to look on eternity 
as near at hand ! Surely, reader, thou now standest 
at the door, and hundreds of diseases arc ready wait- 
ing to open the door and let thee in. Have not the 
thirty or forty years of thy life that are past been 
quickly gone ? Are they not a very little time when 
thou lookest back on them? And will not all the 
rest be shortly so too ? Dost thou not feel that build- 
ing of flesh shake, and perceive thy house of clay totter ? 
Look on thy hour-glass, see how it runs: look on 
thy watch, how fast time flies. What a short moment 
is between us and our rest; what a small step is it 
from hence to eternity ! While I am thinking and 
writing of it, it hastens near, and I am even entering 
into it, before I am aware. While thou art reading 
this, it approaches, and thy life will be gone " as a tale 



HELPS TO HEAVENLY M iNiu; dness. 2d9 

that is told." Mayest thou not easily foresee thy dying 
time, and look upon thyself as ready to depart ? If 
you verily believed you would dio to-morrow, how 
seriously would you think of heaven to-night ! The 
condemned prisoner knew before that he must die; 
but when he hears the sentence, and knows lie has 
not a week to live, thou how docs his heart sink 
within him! The apprehension of the nearness of 
eternity makes men's thoughts of it quick and piercing, 
and puts life into their Tears and sorrows, if they are 
unprepared for it ; and into their desires and joys, if 
they have assurance of its glory. 

IV. Be much in serious conversation concerning 
your rest, especially with those that can speak of it 
from their hearts, and are themselves imbued with a 
heavenly nature. It is a pity that Christians should 
ever meet together without some talk of their meeting 
in heaven, or of the way to it before they part. It is 
a pity so much precious time should be spent by 
Christians in vain discourse; foolish janglings, and use- 
less disputes, without one word of heaven among 
them. Methinks we should meet together on purpose 
to warm our spirits, by discoursing of our rest. To 
hear a minister or a private Christian set forth that 
blessed glorious state, with power and life, from the 
promises of the gospel, methinks should make us say, 
as the two disciples, " Did not our hearts burn within 
us while he opened to us the Scripture," while he 
opened to us the windows of heaven ? Get then 
together, fellow Christians, and talk of the affairs of 
your country and kingdom, and comfort one another 
with such words. If Avorldlings when they get to- 
gether will be talking of the world, should not Chris- 
tians delight themselves in talking of Christ, and the 
heirs of heaven in talking of their inheritance ? 

V. Labour in every duty to raise thy affections 
nearer to heaven. A man's attainments and receivings 
from God are correspondent to his own desires and 
ends ; that which he sincerely seeks, he finds. God's 
end in the institution of his ordinances was, that they 
may be as so many stepping stones to our rest, and as 

23* 



270 



HELPS TO HEAVENLY MIN'DEDXESS. 



Uw stairs by which, in subordination to Christ, w 
may daily ascend ro it in our affections. Let this be 
fay end in using them, as it was God's end in ordain- 
ing them, and doubtless they will not be unsuccessful 

J hough men be personally far asunder, vet they may 
even by letters, have a great deal of intercourse. 
gov have we been rejoiced by a few lines from a 
trjend, though we could not see him face to face' 
And may we not have intercourse with God in his 
ordinances, though our persons are yet so far remote ? 
May not your spirits rejoice in reading those lines' 
wlndi contain our legacy and charter for heaven? 
VV ith what gladness may we read the expressions of 

«S2 .° V AV a ! ld , hear of the state of the bestial 
countiy ! With what triumph and shoutings may we 

applaud our inheritance, though we have not yet 
the happiness to behold it ! 

VI Improve every object thou seest, and every 
event of Divine Providence, to remind thy soul of its 
approaching rest. As all creatures and providences 
are means to our rest, so they point us to that as their 

wm',1,1 ™? k T,r teSt dGalingS With us at P«sent, 
would not be half so sweet as they are, if they had 

no relation to eternity. Thou takest but the bare 
earnest, and overlookest the main sum, when thou 
receivest thy mercies, and forgettest thy crown. 
that Christians were more skilled in this heavenly art ' 
\ ou open your bibles, and read there of God and of 
glory. learn also to open the creatures, and to open 
he events of Providence, to read of God and glory 
there. If thou prosper in the world, let this make 
thee more sensible of thy everlasting prosperity If 
hou be weary of thy labours, let this make' thy 
tb.Hiirhts of rest more sweet. If things go adversely 
with thee m the world, let this make thee desire more 
earnestly that place where all thy sorrows and suffer- 
ings shall cease Is thy body refreshed with food or 
sleep? Remember how thou shalt be refreshed with 
the fruits of the tree of life, which grows in the midst 
Of the paradise of God; and with the water of life 
Which flows from before his throne. Art thou delieht- 



HELPS TO HEAVENLY M INPE PNE>-. 271 

ins: thyself in the society of thy friends? Remember 
the everlasting delight thou shalt have in the society 

of u the spirits oi just men made perfect" Dost thou 
hear the raging noise oi' the wicked, the confusions 

of the world, and the tempest of wars ? Why, think 
of the blessed agreement in heaven, of the melodious 
harmony oi saints and angels, where there is nothing 
but love and union, and where we shall for ever 
solace ourselves in perfect peace, under the wings of 
the Prince of peace. Thus you see what advantages 
to an heavenly life every creature and condition 
aifords us, if we had but hearts to apprehend and 
improve them. 

VII. Be much in the angelical work of praise. As 
the most heavenly spirits will have the most heavenly 
employment, so the more heavenly the employment, 
the more will it make the spirit heavenly. Hence the 
work of praising God, being the most heavenly work, 
is likely to raise us to the most heavenly temper. 
This is the work of the saints and angels in heaven, 
and this will be our own everlasting work. Preaching, 
and prayer, and sacraments shall cease in heaven, but 
praise, and thanksgiving, and triumphant expressions 
of love and joy shall abide for ever. " The liveliest 
emblem of heaven that I know upon earth is, when 
the people of God, in the deep sense of his excellency 
and bounty, from hearts abounding with love and joy, 
join together, both with heart and voice, in the cheer- 
ful and melodious singing of his praises. " 

Little do we know how much we wrong ourselves 
by shutting out of our prayers the praises of God, or 
allowing them so narrow a place as we usually do, 
while we are copious enough in our confessions and 
petitions. Christian, I entreat thee remember this. 
Let praise have a larger place in thy duties. Keep 
ready at hand matter to feed thy praise, as well as 
matter for confession and petition. To this end, study 
the excellencies and goodness of the Lord, as often as 
thy own necessities and vileness. Study the mercies 
which thou hast received, or which are promised, as 
often as thou studiest the sins thou hast committed. 



272 HELPS TO HEAVENLY .MIXDEDXESS. 

"Praise the Lord, fo, He is good; sing praises 
unto his name, for it is pleasant" 

VIII. If thou wuuldsi have thy heart in heave* 
(seep, thy soul possessed with believing thoughts of the 
?£«• l ™ ?.'' God. The Script^ tells 3 us, that 
"God is love »« that he dehghteth not in the death 
o bun that dieth, but rather that he repent and live " 
He test,fjeth his love in an especial manner to Ids 
chosen, and Ins full resolution to save them Oh ' if 
we could always think of God, as we do of a friend 
—as of one that unfeignedly loves us, even more than' 
we love ourselves; whose very heart is set upon us 
to do us good, and who has therefore provided us an 
everlasting dwelling with himself, it would not then 
be so hard to have our heart ever with him. Nothing 
will more quicken our love to God, than the belief of 
his love to us. Get therefore exalted ideas of the 
love of God, and lay up all the experiences and dis- 
coveries of his love to thee ; and then see if it will not 
further thy heavenly mindedncss. 

IX Carefully observe the drawings of the Spirit 
and fear to quench his motions, or to resist his work- 
ings. If ever thy soul get above this earth, and learn 
to hve in heaven, the Spirit of God must be to thee as 
the chariot to Elijah, the living principle by which 
thou must move and ascend. then grieve not thy 
gmde quench not thy life, knock not off thy chariot- 
wheels. If thou do, no wonder if thy soul be at a 
oss and all stand still, or fall to the earth. You little 
flunk how much the life of all your graces, and the 
happiness of your souls, depend upon your ready and 
cordial obedience to the Spirit. When he urges thee 
o secret prayer, and thou refusest obedience ; when 
he forbids thee any sin, and yet thou wilt practise it ; 
when he tells thee the way in which thou should* 
go, and thou wilt not walk therein, no wonder if 
heaven and thy soul be strangers. If thou wilt not 
follow the Spirit while he would draw thee to Christ 
and to thy duty, how should he lead thee to heaven' 
and bring thy heart into the presence of God ? O 
what supernatural help,— what bold access shall' that 



HELPS TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 273 

soul find in its approaches to God, that is accustomed 

to obey the Spirit ! But how backward, how dull, 

how strange will he be in these approaches, who has 

been accustomed to resist the Spirit that would have 

guided him! I beseech thee, Christian, learn well 
this lesson, and try this course; let the very thoughts 
of thy heart be at the Spirit's direction. Dost thou 
not sometimes feel a strong impulse to retire from tho 
world, and to draw near to God? do not thou dis- 
obey, but hoist up sail while thou mayest have this 
blessed gale. When the wind blows strongest, thou 
goest fastest, either backward or forward. The more 
Ave resist the Spirit, the deeper will it wound ; the 
more we obey, the speedier will be our pace. 

Lastly, Neglect not due care for the health of thy 
body, and for maintaining cheerfulness in thy spirits ; 
but yet do not over pamper and please thy flesh. 
Learn how to carry thyself with prudence to thy body. 
It is a useful servant, if thou give it but its due. It is 
a cruel tyrant, if thou give it the mastery. When we 
consider how frequently men run into each of these 
extremes, and how few use their bodies aright, we 
cannot wonder if they be much hindered in their 
heavenly course. Most men are slaves to their sensual 
appetites, and can scarcely deny any thing to the flesh. 
Look to this specially, ye that are young and health- 
ful. As you love your souls, remember that declara- 
tion of Paul, which Avas the means of Augustine's 
conversion, — " Make no provision for the flesh, to 
fulfil the desires thereof." Some few hinder their 
heavenly joy, by over-rigorously denying the body 
what is necessary, and so making it unable to serve 
them. If they Avho abuse their bodies, and neglect 
their health, Avronged the flesh only, the matter Avere 
small ; but they Avrong the soul also, as he that spoils 
the house Avrongs the inhabitant. When the body is 
sick, the spirits Avill languish, and will move heavily 
in these heavenly meditations and joys. Yet Avhere 
God denies this mercy, Ave may the better bear it, 
because he oft occasions our benefit by the denial. 



274 THE NATURE OF HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE NATURE OF HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 

Though I hope what I have already said will be found 
useful, yet I have observed the maxim, that my prin- 
cipal end be last in execution, though it was first in 
my intention. All I have said is but a preparation 
to this. 

The duty which I press so earnestly, I shall now 
describe more particularly ; for I suppose by this time 
the reader is ready to inquire, What is this work 
which is so highly extolled? Why, it is the set and 
solemn acting of all the powers of the soul by medi- 
tation on the everlasting rest. I will explain a little 
more fully the meaning of this description, that so the 
duty may appear plain. 

I. The general title that I give this duty is medita- 
tion, taken in the larger and usual sense for cogitation 
on things spiritual, and so comprehending considera- 
tion and contemplation. 

That meditation is a duty of God's appointment, 
not only in his written law, but also in nature itself, I 
never met with the man that would deny; but that it 
is a duty constantly and conscientiously practised even 
by the godly, so far as my acquaintance extends, I 
must, with sorrow, deny. It is in words confessed to 
be a duty by all, but in their practice, it is denied by 
most. And I know not by what fatality it happens, 
that men who are very conscientious, as to most other 
duties, do as easily overslip this, as if they knew it 
not to be a duty at all. They that are troubled, if 
they omit but a sermon, a fast, a prayer in public or 
private, were yet never troubled that they have omitted 
meditation, perhaps all their life time to this very day ; 
though it be that duty by which all other duties are 



THE NATURE OF HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 275 

improved, and by which the soul digests truths, and 
draws forth their strength for its nourishment and 
refreshing. What good therefore, these men are Like 
to get by sermons or providences, who are unac- 
quainted with, and unaccustomed to, this work of 
meditation, you may easily judge : and why so much 
breaching is lost among us, and professors can run 
from sermon to sermon, and are never weary of hear- 
ing or reading, and yet have such languishing starved 
souls, I know no greater cause than their neglect of 
meditation. 

II. I call this exercise the acting of "all" the powers 
of the soul, to distinguish it from the ordinary medita 
tion of students, which is usually the mere employ- 
ment of the intellect. It is not a bare thinking that I 
mean, nor the mere exercise of invention or memory, 
but a business of a higher and more excellent nature. 
When truth is apprehended only as truth, this is but 
a tasteless apprehension ; but when it is apprehended 
as good, as well as true, this is a delightful apprehen- 
sion. As a man is not apt to live according to the 
truth he knows, unless it deeply affect him ; so neither 
does he enjoy its sweetness, except speculation pass 
into affection. The understanding is not the whole 
soul, and therefore, cannot do the whole work. As 
God has made the different organs of the body to per- 
form their several offices for the nourishment of his 
cofporeal frame ; so has he ordained the faculties of 
the soul to perform their several offices for the main- 
tenance of his spiritual life. The understanding must 
take in truths, and prepare them for the will, and the 
will must receive them, and commend them to the affec- 
tions. While truth is but a speculation swimming in 
the brain, the soul has not half received it, nor taken 
fast hold of it. Christ and heaven have various 
excellencies, and therefore, God has formed the soul 
with powers of various kinds for apprehending them, 
that so we may be capable of enjoying these various 
excellencies of Christ. 

This is, therefore, the great task that I would set thee 
on, to get these truths from thy head into thy heart 



276 THE NATURE OF HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 

that all the sermons which thou hast heard of heaven 
and all the views thou hast formed of the heavenly 
rest, may be turned into animated affection, and thou 
mayest feel them revive thee, and warm thee at thy 
heart, and mayest so think of heaven, as heaven 
should be thought of. 

As the affections of sinners are set on the world, 
and fallen from God, as well as the understanding, so 
must the affections of men be reduced to God, and 
taken up with him, as well as the understanding : and 
as the whole soul was filled with sin before, so the 
whole must now be filled with God. As Paul said of 
knowledge, and gifts, and faith to remove mountains, 
If thou have all these but have not love, thou art but 
"as sounding brass, or as a tinkling cymbal;'' so I 
may say of the exercise of these, If in this work of 
meditation thou exercise knowledge, and gifts, and 
faith of miracles, but not love, and hope, and joy. 
thou doest nothing, thou playest the child, not the 
man, the part of sinners, not of saints : for unconverted 
persons may do so also. If thy meditations only fill 
thy note-book with notions and good sayings concern- 
ing God, but not thy heart with longings after him 
and delight in him, for ought I know, thy book is as 
much a Christian as thou. 

III. I call this meditation " set and solemn" to 
distinguish it from that which is occasional and cur- 
sory. As there is prayer which is solemn when we 
set ourselves wholly to the duty, and prayer which is 
sudden and short, commonly called ejaculatory, when, 
in the midst of other business, we send up some brief 
request to God ; so also there is meditation which is 
solemn, i. e. when we apply ourselves only to that 
work ; and there is a meditation which is short and 
cursory, i. e. when in the midst of business we have 
some good thoughts of God and heavenly things. 
Now, though I would persuade you to that medita- 
tion which is mixed with your ordinary labours, and 
to that which special occasions direct you to, yet these 
are not the chief things which I here intend ; but that 
you would make it a constant standing duty, as you 






THE NATURE OF HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 277 

do hearing, and praying, and reading the Scripture ; — 
that you would solemnly set yourselves about it, and 
make it for the time your whole work, and intermix 
other matters no more with it than you would do with 
prayer or other duties. 

IV, This meditation has for its object " everlasting 
." or the blessed state of man in the enjoyment of 
God in heaven. Meditation has as many objects to 
work upon, as there are matters in the Scriptures, — 
as there are creatures in the whole creation, — and as 
there are particular events of Providence in the gov- 
ernment of the world ; but the meditation that I now 
direct you to, is only of the end of all these, and of 
these as they refer to that end. I would not have you 
lay aside your other meditations ; but surely as heaven 
has the pre-eminence in perfection, so should it have 
the pre-eminence in our meditation. That which will 
make us most happy when we possess it, will make 
us most joyful when we meditate upon it ; especially 
when that meditation is a degree of possession, if it 
be such affecting meditation as I have now described. 

You need not be troubled with the fears of the 
world, lest studying so much these high matters, should 
make you mad. If I had set you to meditate as much 
on sin and wrath, to study nothing but judgment and 
damnation, then you might justly fear such an issue. 
But it is heaven, not hell, that I would persuade you 
to walk in : it is joy, not sorrow that I would persuade 
you to exercise. It is no deformed object on which 
I urge you to look, but the ravishing glory of the 
saints, on the unspeakable excellencies of the God of 
glory, on the beams which stream from the face of 
him " who is the brightness of his glory, and the 
express image of his person." And are these sadden- 
ing and maddening thoughts ? Will it distract a man 
to think of his only happiness ? Will it distract the 
miserable to think of mercy, or the captive to foresee 
deliverance, or the poor to think of approaching riches 
and honours? Methinks it should be likelier to make 
a man mad, to think of living in a world of woe, to 
think of abiding in poverty and sickness, to think of 

24 



278 THE NATURE OF Ill'.WKXI.Y CONTEMPLATION. 

dwelling amidst the rage of wicked men, than to think 
of being with Christ in -lory. Methinks, if wc be 
not mad already, it should soon distract us, to hear the 
tempests and roaring waves, to see the billows, and 
rocks, and gulfs, and sands, than to think of arriving 
safe into the haven of rest. But " wisdom is justified 
of all her children." Knowledge has no enemy but 
the ignorant. This heavenly course was never spoken 
against by any, but those that either never knew it, or 
never used it. I fear more the neglect of men who 
profess to approve it, than the opposition or arguments 
of those who are against it. Truth loses more by 
loose friends, than by its sharpest enemies. 

Having thus explained to you my definition of 
heavenly contemplation, I shall now briefly notice 
those acts of the soul in which it consists. These are 
chiefly three, Consideration, — Soliloquy, — Prayer. 

I. Consideration. — The great instrument of this 
work is reasoning the case with yourselves, — or, as I 
have just styled it, consideration or meditation. I here 
suppose you to know the things to be considered, and 
therefore, shall wholly pass over that meditation of 
students which tends only to speculation or knowing. 
They are known truths that I persuade you to con- 
sider ; for the grossly ignorant that know not the doc- 
trine of everlasting life, are, for the present, incapable 
of this duty. 

Let me here briefly notice the uses of Consideration, 
or what force it has for moving the affections, and for 
impressing things on the heart. 

1. Consideration opens as it were the door be- 
tween the head and the heart. The understanding 
having received truths, lays them up in the memory ; 
and consideration conveys them from thence to the 
at lections. There are few men of so weak understand- 
ing or memory, but they know and can remember 
that which would strangely work upon them, and 
make great alterations in their spirits, if they were not 
locked up in their brain, and if they could but convey 
them to the heart. Now, this is the great work of 
consideration. 



THE NATURE OF HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 279 

2. Consideration presents to the affections thase 
objects which are of most freight and interest The 

most delectablfi object does not please him that sees it 
not ; nor does the most joyful news affect him that 
never hears it. Now, consideration presents before us 
those objects that were absent, and brings them to the 
and ear of the soul. Are not Christ, and glory, 
think you, affecting objects ? Would they not work 
wonders upon the soul, if they were but clearly dis- 
covered, and powerfully transport us, if our appre- 
hension of them were in any degree correspondent to 
their worth ? Now, it is by consideration that they 
are presented to us: this is the perspective glass 
of the Christian, by which he can see from earth to 
heaven. 

3. Consideration presents things in the most affect- 
ing way, and presses them home with the most pow- 
erful arguments. Man is a rational creature, and apt 
to be moved by reasoning ; especially when the reasons 
are evident and strong. Now, consideration is just 
reasoning the case with a man's own heart ; and what 
a multitude of reasons, both clear and weighty, are 
always at hand to work upon the heart ! When a 
believer would reason his heart to this heavenly work 
how many arguments offer themselves, from God, 
from Christ, from our former estate, from our present 
state, from promises, from earnests, from the evil we 
now suffer, from the good we enjoy, from heaven, 
from hell ! Every thing offers itself to promote our 
joy. Now, meditation is but the reading over and 
repeating God's reasons to our hearts, and so disputing 
with ourselves by his arguments. And is not this 
likely to be a prevailing way ? What powerful rea- 
sons does the prodigal plead with himself, why he 
should return to his father's house ! Now, we surely 
have as many and strong reasons to plead with our 
affections, to persuade them to our Father's everlast- 
ing habitations. And by consideration it is that they 
must all be set to work. 

4. Consideration invests reason with its just au- 
thority and prerogative. It helps to deliver it from its 



2S0 THE NATURE 



OF HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 



asleep, the senses or imagination 
onsideration awakens our reason 
it rouse up itself as Sampson, and 



_. :es and sets it again upon the throne 

captivity to the sen^ reagon is ^ it f g u / uall gub _ 

of the soul. \\ he! 

ject. When il is 

domineer. Now 

from its sleep, till g wherewith i 

break the bonds of tQ ^ [mt knowie(] but 

It is easy and ovdwj conthlu a ed considera tion, men 
against serious, str< v 

do more seldom off ..• ' *, i 

r n r ■, a tion can continue the employment 
Lastly, Lonsiaei ssa That be accom p lished 

as long as it is nece n co y ntinued wl * ch wiU no \ b a 

by a weaker motio ^ f £ m 

stronger at the first . r / n - u * *u 

, it, but walking an hour together 
not get a man hec ' - il ° - i Al Y 4 r- 

5 .1 , a sudden occasional thought of 



may ; so. 



? ise our affections to any spiritual 
not ra 



heaven will „ yi , „ can continue Qm thoughts and 
heat yet medita tio tm our hearts w ^ 

lengthen our walk ; hat force cons f deration or medita . 
inus, you see, w thig t elevation of the sou] 

tion has for effecting in * trument 

II SOLILO a P ™ Th ^ U g h the firSt alld Chlef illStrU - 

oliloquy. s t j iat c02 ritation, or consideration, 
ment ot this work l i • i i \ • i • . i ' 

, • , T u xplained, and which is to go along 

which I have mst e l , i ' . -. ° u s 

. A , a1 j . .,3 whole, yet, because mere cogita- 
with us through h Sressed ' hom ' ei wm not pierce g and 

£"'* V i . I ' must Proceed to the next step, 
affect the heart, w; lo ^ which fa nothi bl / » 

which is called Soh.^ ^ Qwn gouI& Ag fa * fa _ 
pleading the case ^ mple propoundillg and explaining 
ing to others, tlie s \ ties seldom finds so much success 
of doctrines and <k ti SQ it . a , so m meditati 
as the lively apphc. uths ' to ourselves , T he moving, 
and propounding < iA smn 



pathetical pleading 



The 
will make him 



truth, which though 



j i iv \ j -iii a common truth, \ 

deeply affected witt er before stirred ^ N fc 

he knew it, yet nev ,.. .. . • i ,,J 

xT v 4 lV meditations, to quicken thy own 
must thou do in th- • q , ' ..} u , i 

-^ serious debate with it: plead with 

heart. Enter into -, a . .. i ' * 

., .ng and artecting language ; urge it 

it in the most movi] 4 S -, c \ / ™ • 

., . ., it y and powerful arguments. This 

l le mo. o n ference, has been the practice of 

soliloquy, or self-co OA * 2 




THE NATURE OF HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 281 

holy men of Clod ill all times. How David pleads 
with his soul airainst its dejections, and argues it into 
holy confidence and comfort, "Why art thou cast 
down, my soul, and why art thou disquieted within 
me ? Hope in God, lor I shall yet praise hiiu, who is 
the health of my countenance, and my God." " Bless 
the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me bless 
his holy name. Bless the Lord, my soul, and for- 
get not all his benefits." " Return unto thy rest, 
my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with 
thee." The like you may see in the meditations of 
holy men of later times, as Augustine, Bernard, and 
others, so that this is no new path which I persuade 
you to tread, but that which saints have ever used in 
their meditations. 

This soliloquy has its several parts, and its due 
method wherein it should be managed. The parts of 
it are according to the several affections of the soul, 
to the several necessities thereof, to the various argu^ 
ments to be used, and to the different ways of arguing. 
As every good master and father of a family is a good 
preacher to his own family, so every good Christian 
is a good preacher to his own soul. Soliloquy is 
preaching to ourselves. Mark the most affecting 
heart-melting minister ; observe his course both for 
matter and manner ; set him as a pattern before thee 
for thy imitation; and the same way that he takes 
with the hearts of his people, do thou also take with 
thy own heart. 

III. Prayer. — In heavenly contemplation we must 
rise, from speaking to ourselves, to speak to God. 
Prayer is not such a stranger to this exercise but that 
ejaculatory requests may be intermixed with it, and 
that as a part of the duty. How often does David 
intermix these in his Psalms, sometimes pleading with 
his soul, and sometimes with God. This keeps the 
soul sensible of the divine presence ; it tends also 
exceedingly to quicken and raise it : so that as God is 
the highest object of our thoughts, so our contempla- 
tion of him, and our speaking to him, and pleading 
with him, more elevate the soul, and excite the 

24* 



282 THE TIME AND PLACE 

affections, than any other part of meditation. Though 
while we but plead the case with ourselves, we may- 
be careless and unaffected, ye1 when we turn our 
speech to God, it may strike us with solemn awe; 
and the holiness and majesty of him to whom we 
speak, may cause both the matter and the words to 
pierce the deeper. The men of God who have left 
their meditations on record for our view, have thus 
intermixed soliloquy and prayer; sometimes speaking 
to their own hearts, and sometimes turning their speech 
to God. And though this may seem an indifferent 
tiling, yet I conceive it very suitable and necessary ; 
it is, in fact, the highest step we can advance to in the 
work. 

I may, however, here observe, meditation and 
speaking to ourselves should go before prayer, or 
speaking to God. Want of this makes prayer with 
most to have little more than the name of prayer, 
and makes men speak as lightly and as stupidly to the 
dreadful God, as if it were to one of their companions, 
and with far less reverence and affection than they 
would speak to an angel, if he should appear to them, 
or even to a judge or prince, if they were speaking for 
their lives; and consequently their success and answers 
are often like their prayers. ! speaking to the God 
of heaven in prayer, is a weightier duty than most 
are aware of! 



CHAPTER V. 

OF THE TIME AND PLACE FOR HEAVENLY CONTEM- 
PLATION, AND THE PREPARATION OF THE HEART 
UNTO IT. 

Having thus explained to you the nature of this duty, 
I shall now proceed to direct you in the work. And 
here I suppose thee to be a man that will conscien- 
tiously avoid the hinderances, and use the helps before 



FOR HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 2S3 

mentioned, or else it is in vain to set thee a highei 
on, till though hast first learned that It" thou hast 
done so, 1 shall proceed to give thee a few directions. 

First, concerning the time and season. 

Secondly, concerning the place. 

Thirdly, concerning the frame of thy spirit. 

First, I am to advise thee concerning the time or 
season. 

I. Have, as much as possible, a fixed and regular 
time for this duty. 

Some there are who question the propriety of having 
stated times for holy duties, as being superstitious; 
but if thou suit thy time to the advantage of the work, 
and place no religion in the time itself, thou needest 
not fear lest this be superstition. As a workman will 
have a set place, in his shop, for each of his tools, or 
else, when he should use them, they may be to seek, 
so a Christian should have a set time for every ordi- 
nary duty, or else when he should practise it, it is ten 
to one but he will overlook it. Stated time is a hedge 
to duty, and defends it against many temptations to 
omission. God has stated none but the Sabbath 
himself, but he has left it to be determined by ourselves, 
according to every man's condition and circumstances, 
lest his law should prove a burden or a snare. Yet 
has he left us general rules, which, by the use of 
reason and Christian prudence, may help us to deter- 
mine the fittest times for our various duties. Though 
God has not told you at what hour you shall rise in 
the morning, or at what hours you shall eat and drink, 
yet your own reason and experience will tell you that 
ordinarily you should observe a stated time. I advise 
thee, therefore, if it be in thy power, to have a stated 
time for this duty, and to be as regular in it, as in 
hearing or praying. Yet I know this will not prove 
every man's duty. Some, as most servants, have not 
themselves and their time at command, and therefore 
cannot set their hours ; many, too, are so poor that 
the necessity of their families will not allow them this 
freedom. I do not think it the duty of such persons 
to leave their work at stated times, for this exercise, 



2S4 THE TIME AND TLACE 

no, not for prayer, or other acts of worship. No such 
duty is at all times a duty. When two duties come 
together, and cannot both be performed, it were then 
a sin to perform the less. Of two duties we must 
choose the greater, though of two sins we must choose 
neither. I think such persons had best be watchful, 
to redeem time as much as they can, and take their 
vacant opportunities as they fall, and especially to 
join meditation and prayer, as much as they can, with 
the very labours of their callings. There is no such 
enmity between labouring and meditating, or praying, 
but that both may conveniently be done together. 

II. Lot it be frequent as well as stated. How often 
it should be in each particular case, I cannot determine, 
because men's circumstances materially vary. But 
that, in general, it be frequent, the Scripture requires, 
when it speaks of meditating "all the day," — medi- 
tating "in the night-watches," — meditating "day and 
pight" Circumstances of our condition may much 
vary the circumstances of our duties. It may be one 
man's duty to hear or pray oftener than another, and 
so it may be as to meditation. But for those that can 
conveniently do it, I advise that it be once a day at 
least. Though Scripture tells us not how often in a 
day we should eat or drink, yet prudence and experi- 
ence will direct us twice or thrice a day, according to 
the necessities of our bodies. Those that think they 
should not tie themselves to order or number in their 
duties, but should only meditate or pray, when they 
find -the Spirit moving them to it, go upon uncertain 
and unchristian grounds. I am sure, the Scripture 
calls us to frequency, and our necessity seconds the 
voice of Scripture; and if, through my own neglect, 
or resistance, the Spirit does not excite or quicken me, 
I (hue not, therefore, disobey the Scripture, nor neglect 
the necessities of my own soul. I should suspect that 
spirit, which would turn my soul from constancy in 
duty. If the Spirit in Scripture hid me meditate or 
pray, I dare not forbear it. If I find not incitation to 
duty before, yet I may find assistance while 1 wait in 
the performance of it. I am afraid of laying my 



FOR HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 2&f 

corruptions upon the Spirit, or blaming the want of 
the Spirit's assistance, when I should blame the back- 
wardness of my own heart; nor dare I make one 

corruption a plea for another; nor urge the inward 
rebellion of my nature, as a reason for the outward 
disobedience of my life. 

There are three reasons, in particular, which should 
persuade to frequency in this meditation on heaven. 

1. Seldom conversing with God will produce a 
distance between him and thy soul. The chief design 
of this duty is that thou mayest have fellowship with 
God therein : if therefore, thou engage but seldom in 
it, thou wilt remain a stranger to him still, and so 
miss the end of the work. 0, when a man feels 
his need of God, and must seek help from him in a 
time of necessity, when nothing else can do him any 
good, you would little think what an encouragement 
it is to go to a God that we know, and are acquainted 
with. But especially when we come to die, and must 
immediately appear before God, how great will the 
difference then appear ! What a joy will it be to 
think, " I am going to that place in which I daily 
conversed ; to the place whence I drew such frequent 
delights ; to that God whom I have so often met in 
my meditations. My heart has been in heaven before 
now, and tasted its sweetness ; and if my eyes were 
so enlightened, and my mind so refreshed, when I but 
tasted of that sweetness, what will it be when I shall 
freely feed upon it?" On the other hand, what a 
terror will it be to think, " I must die and go, I know 
not whither; I must go from a place where I am 
acquainted, to a place where I have no acquaintance \" 
O brethren, it is an inexpressible horror to a dying 
man to be a stranger to God and heaven. I am per- 
suaded there is no cause that so commonly makes 
death, even to godly men, unwelcome and uncomforta- 
ble. Therefore I persuade thee to frequency in this 
duty, that there be no estrangement between thy soul 
and God. 

2. Seldomness in conversing with God ivill render 
thee unskilful in the work. How awkwardly do men 



28G THE TIME AND PLACE 

put their hands to a work to which they arc unaccus- 
tomed ! The heart, which of itself is naturally back- 
ward to this duty, will contract a greater unwillingness 
through disuse; whereas frequency will habituate thy 
heart to the exercise, and thou wilt better know how 
to practise it, and it will also become more easy and 
delightful. 

3. By long intermissions, thou wilt lose that heart 
and life, which thou didst obtain in the duty. If in 
holy meditation thou get near to Christ, and warm thy 
heart with the fire of his love ; and if thou then turn 
away and come but seldom, thou wilt soon return to 
thy former coldness. I advise thee, therefore, to be 
engaged as often as possible in this soul elevating 
duty, lest when thou hast long rowed hard against the 
wind and tide, the boat should go further down the 
stream by thy intermission, than it was got up by all 
thy labour. 

III. Choose the most seasonable time. All things 
are beautiful in their season. Unseasonableness may 
lose thee the fruit of thy labour. It may raise up 
disturbances and difficulties in the work ; yea it may 
turn a duty to a sin ; whereas the seasonableness of a 
duty makes it easy, removes impediments, emboldens 
us to the undertaking, and ripens its fruits. 

The seasons of this duty are either ordinary or 
extraordinary. 

1. The ordinary season for your daily performance 
of the duty cannot be particularly determined by man, 
otherwise God would have fixed it in his word. Men's 
circumstances and employments are so various that 
that may be a seasonable time to one, which is 
unseasonable to another. Every man is the meetest 
judge for himself. Only give me leave to offer you 
my observation, as to the time I have found fittest for 
myself, and that is, the evening, from sun setting to 
the twilight ; and this corresponds with the experience 
of a h( iter and wiser man than myself, namely, Isaac, 
lor it is said, that "he went out to meditate in the 
field at the eventide ;" and his experience I dare more 
boldly recommend unto you than my own. 



FOR HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 287 

2. The Lord's clay is a time exceedingly seasonable 
for this exercise. When could we more seasonably 
Contemplate our everlasting rest, than on that day of 
test which typifies it to us? As it is a day appropri- 
ated to Divine worship and spiritual duties, methinks 
should never exclude this duty, which is so emi- 
nently Divine and spiritual. What fitter time to con- 
verse with our Lord, than on that day which he has 
appropriated to such employment, and which is there- 
fore called the Lord's day ? What fitter day to ascend 
to heaven, than that on which our Lord arose from 
earth, and triumphed over death and hell, and took 
possession of heaven before us ? The fittest temper 
for a true believer, is, to be " in the Spirit on the Lord's 
day." 

There are two sorts of Christians whom I would 
entreat to take special notice of this. 

(1.) Those who spend the Lord's day only in public 
worship ; either through the neglect of this spiritual 
duty of meditation, or else by their overmuch attend- 
ance on the public exercises of religion, allowing no 
time to private duty. This is a very hurtful mistake 
to the soul. 

(2.) Those that have time on the Lord's day for 
idleness, and vain discourse, and find the day longer 
than they know well how to spend. Were you 
but acquainted with this duty of contemplation, you 
would need no other recreation or pastime ; you would 
think the longest day short enough, and be sorry that 
the night came on to shorten your pleasure. 

Having thus mentioned the fittest seasons for the 
ordinary performance of this heavenly work, I shall 
now notice some special seasons for the extraordinary 
performance of this duty. 

1. When God extraordinarily revives and assists 
thy spirit. When God enkindles thy spirit with fire 
from above, it is that it may mount aloft more freely. 
It is a choice part of a Christian's skill, to observe the 
temper of his own spirit, and how the Spirit of Christ 
doth move upon his soul. Without Christ we can do 
nothing . let us, therefore, be doing when he is doing 



2SS THE TIME AND PLACE 

Ships make little progress without the wind or tide ; 
and therefore, it is necessary to embrace the oppor- 
tunity when the wind blows, or the tide favours. Be 
sure thou watch the wind and tide, if thou wouldst 
nave a speedy voyage to heaven. When the Spirit 
finds thy heart in prison and in irons, and smites it, 
and bids thee, as the angel did Peter, "Arise quickly 
and follow me," be sure thou then arise and follow,, 
and thou shalt find thy chains fall off, and thy prison 
doors open, and thou wilt be in heaven before thou 
art aware. 

2. When thou art in perplexity, through sufferings, 
or fear, or care, or temptation. When should we take 
cordials but in times of fainting ? When is it more 
seasonable to walk to heaven, than when we know 
not in what corner on earth to live with comfort? 
When should our thoughts converse above, but when 
they have nothing but grief to converse with below ? 
Surely God sends thee thy afflictions for this very 
purpose. Happy art thou, poor man, if thou make 
this use of thy poverty. Happy thou that art sick, if 
thou so improve thy sickness ! " In the multitude of 
my thoughts within me," says David, "thy comforts 
delight my soul :" as if he had said, " I have multi- 
tudes of saddening thoughts that crowd upon me, 
thoughts of my sins, thoughts of my foes, thoughts of 
my dangers, thoughts of my pains ; yet in the midst 
of all this crowd, one serious thought of the comforts 
of thy love, and especially of everlasting life in glory, 
dispels the throng, and scatters my cares, and dis- 
perses the clouds that my troubles had raised, that 
they even revive and delight my soul." And Paul, 
when he had cast up his full accounts, gives this as 
the sum, " I reckon that the sufferings of this present 
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory 
that shall be revealed in us." Study these words well, 
for every one of them is full of life. If these sayings 
of God were truly and deeply fixed in thy heart, and 
if thou couldst in thy sober meditation but draw out 
the comfort of this one Scripture, I dare affirm it 
would sweeten the bitterest cup, and in a manner 



FOR HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 289 

make thee forget thy trouble; yea, and cause thee 

rejoice in thy tribulation. I will add but one text 
more, " For which cause we faint not ; but though our 
outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed 
day by day. For our light affliction which is but for 
a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory ; while we look not at the 
things which are seen, but at the things which are not 
seen : For the things which are seen, are temporal, 
but the things which are not seen arc eternal." 

3. When the messengers of God summon us to die, 
when either our gray hairs, or our languishing bodies, 
or similar forerunners of death, tell us that our change 
cannot be far distant. When should we more fre- 
quently sweeten our souls with the believing thoughts 
of another life, than when we find that this is almost 
ended ? Surely no men have greater need of support- 
ing joys than dying men ; and those joys must be 
drawn from our eternal joy. And as heavenly de- 
lights are sweetest when they are pure and unmixed, 
having no earthly delights combined with them, so the 
delights of dying Christians are often the sweetest that 
ever they had. Hence the saints have been generally 
observed to be most heavenly when they were nearest 
dying. As our Saviour increased in wisdom and 
knowledge, so did he also in their blessed expressions, 
and yet the last are still the sweetest. What a 
heavenly prayer, and what a heavenly advice, does 
he give his disciples when he is about to leave them ! 
When he saw he must leave the world, and go to the 
Father, how does he wean them from worldly expec- 
tations ! How does he remind them of the mansions 
in his Father's house, and of his coming again to con- 
vey them thither ; and promise that they shall be with 
him to behold his glory ! There is more worth in 
those four chapters, John xiv., xv., xvi., xvii., than in all 
the books in the world beside. In like manner, it is 
the general temper of the spirits of the saints, to be 
most heavenly when they are nearest to heaven. As 
thou art sick, and needest the choicest cordials, so here 
are choicer than the world aifords : here is the food of 

25 



290 THE TIME AND PLACE 

angels and glorified saints; here are all the joys that 
heaven doth yield, even the vision of God, the sight 
of Christ, and whatsoever the blessed there possess. 
This table is spread for thee to feed on in thy sickness; 
these dainties are offered thee by thy Redeemer ; only 
put forth the hand of faith, and feed upon them, and 
rejoice and live. He saith to thee, as of old to Elijah, 
" Arise and cat, because the journey is too great for 
thee." I counsel thee, therefore, that thou obey his 
voice, and arise and eat, and in the strength of that 
meat thou mayest walk till thou come to the mount 
of God. And as old Simeon, when he saw Christ in 
his infancy in the temple, so do thou behold him in 
his glory in the temple of the New Jerusalem, and 
take him in the arms of thy faith, and say, "Lord, 
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine 
eyes have seen thy salvation/' 

Having said so much concerning the time of this 
duty, I shall now proceed, secondly , to advise thee 
concerning the place. Though God is every where to 
be found by a faithful soul, yet some places are more 
convenient for a duty than others. 

I. As this is a private duty, I would counsel thee to 
retire to some private place. Our spirits need to be 
freed from every hinderance, and require every help, 
in the work ; and though the circumstances of place 
may to some seem small things, yet do they much con- 
duce to our hinderance or our help. Christ himself 
thought it not vain to direct in this circumstance of 
private duty, Matt. vi. 4, 6, IS. If in private prayer 
we must shut our door upon us, that our Father may 
hear us in secret, so is it also requisite in meditation. 
How often did Christ himself depart to some moun- 
tain, or wilderness, or other solitary place ! For occa- 
sional meditation, I give thee not this advice ; but for 
the daily set and solemn duty, I advise thee to with- 
draw thyself from all society, even though it were the 
society of godly men, that thou mayest a while enjoy 
the society of Christ. When thy eyes are filled with 
the persons and actions of men, and thine ears with 
their discourse, it is hard to have thy thoughts and 



for HEAVENLY contemplation. 291 

affections free for this duty. Accustom yourselves, 
therefore, as Christ himself did, to go sometimes into 

a solitary place, that thou mayest be wholly disen- 
ed for this great employment. 

1 1. As thou shouldst retire to some private place, so I 
would advise thee to observe more particularly what 
place and posture best agrees with thy spirit ; whether 
within doors or without ; whether sitting still, or walk- 
ing about. Isaac's example will direct us to the place, 
and posture which, I believe, will best suit with most, 
at least it does with me. He walked forth " to medi- 
tate in the field in the eventide." And Christ's own 
example gives us the like direction. He was so used 
to a solitary garden, that even Judas, when he came 
to betray him, knew where to find him. 

Thirdly, I shall counsel thee concerning the prepa- 
ration of thy heart for this duty. 

The success of the work depends much on the 
frame of thy heart. When man's heart had nothing 
in it that might grieve the Spirit, then was it the 
delightful habitation of its Maker. God did not quit 
his residence there, till man repelled him by unworthy 
provocation. There grew no strangeness, till the heart 
grew sinful, and too loathsome a dungeon for God to 
delight in. And were the soul reduced to its former 
innocency, God would quickly return to his former 
habitation ; yea, so far as it is renewed and repaired 
by the Spirit, and purged of its lusts, and beautified 
with his image, God will yet acknowledge it as his 
own, and Christ will manifest himself unto it, and the 
Spirit will take up his residence in it as in a temple. 
For the most part, so far as the soul is qualified for con- 
versing with God, so far it actually enjoys him. " Keep 
thy heart, therefore, with all diligence, for out of it are 
the issues of life." 

When thou settest about this duty, attend more par- 
ticularly to the following counsels : — 

I. Get thy heart as clear from the world as thou 
canst. Lay aside the thoughts of thy business, of thy 
troubles, of thy enjoyments, of every thing, in shorty 
that may take up any room in thy soul. Get thy 



292 THE TIME AND PLACE 

heart as empty as thou possibly canst, that so it may be 
the more capable of being filled with God. It is a 
work, as I have said, that will require all the powers 
of thy soul, if they were a thousand times more capa- 
cious and active than they are, and therefore you have 
need to lay aside all other thoughts and affections 
while you are busied in this exercise. 

Seeing, therefore, so much depends on the capacity 
and frame of thy heart how much thou shalt enjoy of 
God in this contemplation, be sure that all the room 
thou hast be empty, and if ever, seek him here with 
all thy soul. Say to all thy worldly business and 
thoughts, as Christ to his disciples, " Sit ye here while 
I go and pray yonder." Yea, as God did terrify the 
people with the threatenings of death, if any one should 
dare to come up the Mount when Moses was to re- 
ceive the law from God, so do thou terrify thy own 
heart, and use violence against thy intruding thoughts, 
if they offer to accompany thee to the mount of con- 
templation. Or as the priests thrust Uzziah the king 
out of the temple when he presumed to burn incense, 
so do thou thrust these thoughts from the temple of 
thy heart. Yourselves may be welcome, but such fol- 
lowers are not. 

II. Engage in this work with the greatest serious- 
ness. Formality here is a killing sin. There is no 
trifling in holy things : God will be " sanctified of all 
them that draw nigh unto him." To help thee there- 
fore to be serious when thou settest about this work, 
attend to these three directions. 

1. Labour to have a deep apprehension of the pre- 
sence of God, and the incomprehensible greatness of 
the majesty which thou approachest. If Rebecca veil 
her face at her approach to Isaac ; if Esther must not 
draw near till the king hold forth the golden sceptre ; 
if dust and worms must treat each other with such 
respect, think with what reverence thou shouldst ap- 
proach thy Maker : Think thou art addressing thy- 
self to him that made the worlds by the word of his 
mouth, that upholds the earth as in the palm of his 
hand, that keeps the sun, and moon, and stars in their 



FOR HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 293 

courses, that hounds the raging sea with the sands, 
and says, " Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther." 
Thou art about to converse with him before whom 

the earth will quake, and devils tremble ; before whose 
bar thou must shortly stand, and all the world with 
thee, to receive their doom. Why should not the 
dread of his name possess my soul !" 

2. Labour to apprehend the greatness of the work 
which thou attemptest. If thou wast pleading for thy 
life at the bar of a judge, thou wouldst be serious ; 
and yet that were but a trifle to this. If thou wast 
engaged in such a work as David was against Goliath, 
whereon the kingdom's deliverance did depend, thou 
wouldst be serious ; and yet considered in itself, that 
were nothing to this. Suppose thou wast going to 
such a wrestling as Jacob's; suppose thou wast gomg 
to see the sight, which the three disciples saw in the 
mount ; how seriously, how reverently wouldst thou 
both approach and behold ! If some angel from 
heaven should but appoint to meet thee, at the time 
and place of thy contemplations, how dreadfully, how 
apprehensively wouldst thou go forth to meet him ! 
Why, consider then with what a spirit thou shouldst 
meet the Lord, and with what seriousness and dread 
thou shouldst daily converse with him. When Manoah 
had seen but an angel, he cries out, " We shili surely 
die, because we have seen God." 

3. Consider the blessed issue of the work. If it 
succeeds, it will be an admission of thee into the pre 
sence of God, a beginning of thy eternal glory on 
earth, a means to make thee live above the rate of 
other men, and admit thee into the next room to 
the angels themselves : a means to make thee both 
live and die joyfully and blessedly. Now, the prize 
being so great, thy preparation should be correspond- 
ing thereto. There is none on earth who live such a 
life of joy and blessedness, as those that are acquainted 
with this heavenly conversation. The joys of all 
other men are but like the play of children, or the 
laughter of fools. It is he who trades with heaven 

25* 



294 THE FACULTIES WHICH ARE EXERCISED 

that is the only gainer ; and he who neglects it is the 
only loser. then how seriously should this work 
be done ! 



CHAPTER VI. 

OF THE FACULTIES WHICH ARE EXERCISED IN 
HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 

To draw the heart yet nearer to the work, I shall now 
show you what powers of the soul must be exercised 
in heavenly contemplation. 

I. You must go to the memory, which is the maga- 
zine or treasury of the understanding, and thence you 
must draw those heavenly doctrines which you intend 
to make the subject of your meditation. You may, 
for this purpose, look over any promise of eternal life 
in the Bible, any description of the glory of the saints, 
or the very articles of the resurrection of the body, 
and the life everlasting. Some one sentence concern- 
ing these eternal joys, may afford you matter for 
many years' meditation ; yet it will be a point of wis- 
dom to have always a stock of matter in your memory, 
that so, when you should use it, you may bring forth 
out of your treasury things new and old. If we should 
take things in order, and observe some method in 
respect of the matter, and meditate first on one truth 
concerning eternity, and then on another, it would not 
be amiss ; and if any should be barren of matter 
through weakness of memory, they may have notes 
or books on this subject to assist them. 

II. When you have drawn from your memory the 
matter of your meditation, your next work is to pre- 
sent it to your judgment Open the case as fully as 
thou canst, — set forth the several ornaments of the 
crown, and the several dignities belonging to the king- 
dom. Let judgment deliberately view them, and take 
is exact a survey of them as it can. Then put the 
question, and require a determination. Is there hap- 



IN HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 295 

piness in all this or Dot ? Is there not here enough to 
make me blessed? Can he want any thing who fully 
poss ('Oil ? Is there any thing higher tor a crea 

dire to attain ? Thus urge thy judgment to pass an 
Upright sentence, and compel it to subscribe to the per- 
fection of the celestial happiness, and to leave this 
sentence under its hand upon record. If thy senses 
should begin to mutter, and put in a word for fleshly 
pleasure or profits, let judgment hear what each can 
say ; weigh the arguments of the world and the flesh 
in one scale, and the arguments for the pre-eminence 
of glory in the other, and judge impartially which 
should be preferred. Try whether there be any com- 
parison to be made between them, which is more 
excellent, which more satisfactory, which more pure, 
which frees most from misery, which advances us 
highest, and which is of longest continuance. Thus 
let deliberate judgment decide it, and let not flesh 
carry it by noise and violence ; and when the sentence 
is passed and recorded in thy heart, it will be ready at 
hand to be produced upon any occasion, and to silence 
the flesh in its next attempt, and to disgrace the world 
in its next competition. 

III. But the great work is, to exercise thy belief of 
the truth of thy rest ; and that in respect both of the 
truth of the promise, and of the truth of thy own in- 
terest in it. As unbelief causes the languishing of all 
our graces, so faith would do much to revive and 
actuate them, if it were but revived and actuated in 
itself. Our belief of the truth of the Scripture, I con- 
ceive as needful to be exercised and confirmed, as 
almost any point of faith. Though few complain of 
their not believing the Scripture, yet I conceive it to be 
the commonest part of unbelief, and the very root of 
bitterness, which spoils our graces. Perhaps thou hast 
not a positive belief of the contrary, nor dost thou 
expressly think that Scripture is not the word of God: 
and yet thou mayest have but little belief that the 
Scripture is the word of God. If we did fully believe 
that there is such a glory, and that within a few days 
our eyes shall behold it, what passions would it raise 



296 TIIE FACULTIES WHICH ARE EXERCISED 

within us ! Were we thoroughly persuaded tha 
every word in the Scripture concerning the inconceiva- 
ble joys of the kingdom, and the inexpressible blessed- 
ness of the life to come, is the very word of the living 
God, and would certainly be performed to the smallest 
tittle, what astonishing apprehensions of that life 
would it produce in our minds ! What amazing horror 
would seize upon our hearts, if we found ourselves 
strangers to the conditions of that life, and utterly igno- 
rant of our portion therein ! What love, what long- 
ings would it raise within us ! and how would it trans- 
port us with joy upon the least assurance of our title ! 
Let this therefore be a chief part of thy business in 
meditation. Produce the strong arguments for the 
truth of Scripture : plead them against thy unbelieving 
nature. Answer and silence all the cavils of infidelity ; 
read over the promises; study all confirming provi- 
dences; call forth thine own recorded experiences; 
remember the Scriptures which have already been ful- 
filled, both to the church and to the saints in former 
ages. Get ready the clearest and most convincing 
arguments, and keep them by thee, and frequently use 
them. Then too set before your faith, the freeness, 
and the universality of the promise. Consider God's 
oiler of mercy, and that he has excepted from it, no 
man who will accept of it. Study also the gracious 
disposition of Christ, and his readiness to welcome all 
that come to him : study all the evidences of his love, 
as manifested in his sufferings, in his condescension 
to sinners, in his easy conditions, in his exceeding 
patience, in his urgent invitations and his faithfulness 
in performing his engagements. Study also the evi- 
dences of his love in thyself; look over the works of 
his grace in thy soul. If thou do not find the degree 
which thou desirest, yet deny not that degree which 
thou findest ; look after the sincerity more than the 
quantity. Remember what discoveries of thy state 
thou hast made formerly in the work of self-examina- 
tion, how oft God has convinced thee of the sincerity 
of thy heart. Remember all the former testimonies 
of the Spirit, and all thy sweet feelings of the favour 



IN HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 297 

of God, and all the prayers that ho lias beard and 
answered, and all the rare preservations and deliver- 
ances which he has wrought for thee, and all the dis- 
posals of his providence for thy good. Lay these all 
together, and then think with thyself, whether they do 
not testily his good will concerning thy salvation, and 
may not well be pleaded against thine unbelief. 

IV. When thy meditations have thus proceeded 
about the truth of thy happiness, the next part of the 
work is to meditate on its goodness, that when the 
judgment has determined, and faith has apprehended, 
it may then pass on to excite thy affections. 

1. The first affection to be exercised is Love. The 
object of this, as I have told you, is goodness. Here, 
then, Christian, is the soul-reviving part of thy work. 
Go to thy memory, thy judgment, and thy faith ; and 
from them produce the excellencies of thy rest. Let 
thy faith, as it were, take thy heart by the hand, and 
show it the sumptuous buildings of thy eternal habita- 
tion, and the glorious ornaments of thy Father's house ; 
show it those mansions which Christ is preparing, and 
display before it the honours of the kingdom. Let 
faith lead thy heart into the presence of God, and 
draw as near as thou canst, and say, "Behold the 
ancient of days, — the Lord Jehovah, whose name is 
I AM : This is the cause of all causes, the spring of 
action, the fountain of life : This is he who made the 
world by a word, who upholds the earth, and rules 
the nations. This is he that loved thee from everlast- 
ing, who endued thee with understanding, and beau 
tiffed thee with his gifts ; who maintains thee in life, 
and health, and comfort ; who dignified thee with thy 
honours, and distinguished thee from the vilest and 
most miserable of men. This is the Lord that has 
crowned thee with his benefits, ' prepared a table for 
thee in the presence of thine enemies, and caused thy 
cup to run over.' This is he whom angels and saints 
do praise, and whom the host of heaven shall mag 
nify for ever." 

Thus expatiate in the praises of God, and display 



298 THE FACULTIES WHICH ARE EXERCISED 

his excellencies to thine own heart, till thou feel the 
fire in thy breast begin to kindle. 

But it' thou dost not yet feel thy love in exercise, 
Lead thy heart farther, and show it yet more. Show 
it the Son of the living God, whose name is, "Won- 
derful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting 
Father, the Prince of Peace." Show it the King of 
saints on the throne of his glory, who is "the first 
and the last," — who " was, and is, and is to come, — 
who liveth and was dead, and behold, he liveth for 
evermore " — who has made thy peace by the blood 
of his cross, and has prepared thee with himself, an 
habitation of peace. Draw near and behold him. 
It is he that brought thee up from the pit of hell. 
It is he that reversed the sentence of thy damnation ; 
that bore the curse which thou shouldst have borne, 
and restored thee to the blessing which thou hadst 
forfeited, and purchased the inheritance which thou 
shalt possess for ever. This is He, who would rather 
die than thou shouldst die, — who chose thy life be- 
fore his own, — who pleads his blood before his Father, 
and makes continual intercession for thee. If he had 
not suffered, what hadst thou suffered ? What hadst 
thou been, if he had not redeemed thee ? Whither 
hadst thou gone, if he had not called thee ? There 
was but a step between thee and hell, when he stept 
in, and bore the stroke : and is there not here fuel 
enough to kindle thy love? 

If the arguments now mentioned rouse not up thy 
love, thou hast more of the same nature at hand. 
Thou hast all Christ's personal excellencies to study ; 
thou hast all his particular mercies to thyself, both 
special and common ; thou hast all his sweet and near 
relations to thee ; thou hast the happiness of thy 
perpetual abode with him in heaven ; all these offer 
themselves to thy meditation, with all their several 
branches and excellencies. Only follow them close to 
thy heart ; ply the work, and let it not cool. Deal 
with thy heart, as Christ did with Peter, when he 
asked him thrice over, " Lovest thou me?" till he 
was grieved, and answered, " Lord, thou knowest 



IN HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 299 

that I love thee." Say to thy heart, " Lovesl thou 
thy Lord?" Ask it the second time, and urge it the 
third time, €C Lo vest thou thy Lord," till thou grieve 
it, and shame it out of its stupidity, and it can truly 
say, " Thou knowest that I love Him." 

2. The next affection to he excited is desire. The 
ohject of this is goodness considered as absent, or 
not yet attained. This being so necessary an attend- 
ant of love, and being excited by much the same 
considerations, you will need the less direction rela- 
tive to it, and therefore I shall touch but briefly on 
this. If love be warm, I am sure your desire will not 
be cold. 

When thou hast thus viewed the goodness of the 
Lord, and contemplated the pleasures that are at his 
right hand, proceed thus with thy meditations. 
Think with thyself, " Where have I been ? What 
have I seen ? the incomprehensible astonishing 
glory ! the rare transcendent beauty ! blessed 
souls that now enjoy it, that see a thousand times 
more clearly, what I have seen but darkly at this 
distance, and scarcely discerned through the interpo- 
sing clouds ! What a difference is there betwixt my 
state and theirs ! I am sighing ; they are singing. I 
am sinning ; they are pleasing God. I have a sinful 
soul, they are perfect and without spot or blemish. I 
am here entangled in the love of the world ; they are 
taken up with the love of God. I live, indeed 
amongst the means of grace, and possess the fellow- 
ship of my fellow believers ; but I have none of their 
immediate views of God, none of that fellowship 
which they enjoy. They have none of my cares and 
fears ; they weep not in secret ; they languish not in 
sorrows ; all tears are wiped away from their eyes. 
happy, happy souls ! Alas, that I must dwell in 
corrupt flesh, when my brethren and companions 
dwell with God ! Alas, that I must pray and wait, 
and wait and pray, when they do nothing but love 
and praise. blessed souls ! I may not, — I dare not 
envy your happiness ; I rather rejoice in my brethren's 
prosperity, and am glad to think of the day when 1 



300 THE FACULTIES WHICH ARE EXERCISED 

shall be admitted into your fellowship. Why must I 
stay, and groan, and weep, and wait ! My Lord is 
gone, — he has lefl this earth, and is entered into his 
glory: my brethren are gone, my friends are there 
my house, my hope, my all are there ! And must I 
stay behind to sojourn here? If the saints were all 
here, if Christ were here, then it were no grief for me 
to stay. If the bridegroom were present, who would 
mourn ? But when my soul is so far distant from my 
God, wonder not what ails me, if I now complain. 
But seeing it is the promised land of my rest, and the 
state I must be advanced to myself, and since my soul 
draws near, and is almost at it, I will love and long, — 
I will look and desire, — I will breathe out blessed 
Calvin's motto, " How long, Lord, how long ! how 
long, Lord, holy and true, wilt thou suffer this soul to 
pant and groan; and wilt not open and let him in, 
who waits and longs to be with thee !" 

Thus, Christian, let thy thoughts aspire. Thus 
whet the desires, of thy soul by these meditations, till 
thy soul long, as David did, for the waters of Bethle- 
hem, and say, " that one would give me to drink 
of the wells of salvation !" and till thou canst say, as 
he did on another occasion, " I have longed for thy 
salvation, Lord." 

3. The next affection to be exercised is hope. 
This is of singular use to the soul. It helps exceed- 
ingly to support it in sufferings ; it encourages it to 
venture on the greatest difficulties; it firmly establishes 
it in the most shaking trials ; it mightily enlivens it in 
duties, and is the spring that sets all the wheels in 
motion. Who would preach, were it not in the hope 
of prevailing with poor sinners for their conversion 
and confirmation? Who would pray, but for his 
hope of prevailing with God? Who would believe, 
or obey, or strive, or suffer, or do any thing for 
heaven, were it not for the hope that he has of obtain- 
ing it ? Would the mariner sail and the merchant 
adventure, if they had not hope of safety and success? 
Would the husbandman plough and sow, if he had 
not hope of increase at harvest ? Would the soldier 



IN HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 301 

fight, if he had not hope of victory ? Surely no man 
would adventure upon known impossibilities. Even 
the false hope of the wicked supports and maintains a 
kind of comfort, correspondent to their hope; though, 
it is true, their hope will die with them. How much 
more will the saints' hopes refresh and support them! 
If your hope dies, — your duties die, your endeavours 
die, your joys die, and your souls die. 

Therefore, Christian, think thus with thine own 
heart : " Why should I not confidently and comfort- 
ably hope, when the kingdom is at the disposal of so 
bounteous a God, and when my soul is in the hands 
of so compasionate a Saviour ! Did he ever manifest 
any backwardness to my good, or discover the least 
inclination to my ruin ? Has he not, on the contrary, 
sworn that he delights not in the death of him that 
dieth, but rather that he should turn and live ? Have 
not all his dealings with me witnessed the same ? Did 
he not remind me of my danger, when I never feared 
it ? And why was this, if he would not have me 
escape it ? Did he not remind me of my happiness, 
when I had no thoughts of it ? And why was this, 
but that he would have me enjoy it? How often has 
he drawn me to himself, when I have drawn back- 
ward, and would have broken away from him ! 
What restless importunity has he used in his suit ! 
How has his Spirit incessantly solicited my heart, 
with winning suggestions and persuasions for my 
good ! And would he have done all this, if he had 
been willing that I should perish ? Have I not a sure 
promise, yea, the truth of God, on which to build my 
hope ? It is true, the glory is out of sight. I have 
not beheld the mansions of the saints. Who has 
ascended up to discover it, and descended to tell us 
what he had seen ? Yet the word is near me. Have 
I not Moses and the prophets, Christ and his apostles ? 
I will say, therefore, in the midst of my greatest 
sufferings, with the church, < The Lord is my portion ; 
therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good to 
them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. 
It is good that I both hope, and quietly wait for the 

26 



302 TLIE FACULTIES WHICH ARE EXERCISED 

salvation of tin 4 Lord It is good for a man that lie 
boar the yoke in his youth. I will sit alone, and 
keep silence, because I have borne it upon me. I 
Will put my mouth in the dust, if so be there may be 
hope. For the Lord will not cast off for ever ; but 
though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion, 
according to the multitude of his mercies.' Though 
1 languish and die, yet will I hope; for he has said, 
< The righteous hath hope in his death.' Though I 
must lie down in dust and darkness, yet shall my flesh 
rest in hope. If I had to satisfy divine justice for my 
sins, there had then been no hope ; but Christ has 
made atonement for our transgressions, and has 
brought in a better hope, by which we may now 
draw nigh to God; therefore will I 'turn to this 
stronghold, as a prisoner of hope.' " 

4. The next affection to be exercised is courage or 
boldness. When you have thus mounted on the 
wings of love, desire, and hope, go on, and think 
further thus with yourselves, " And will God indeed 
dwell with men ? And is there such a glory within 
the reach of hope ? why do I not then lay hold 
upon it ? Where is the cheerful vigour of my 
spirit ? Why do I not run with speed the race that 
is set before me? Why do I not set upon mine 
enemies on every side, and valiantly break through 
all resistance, and take the kingdom by force ? What 
should dismay me ? Is God with me, or against me 
in the work ? Will Christ stand by me, or will he 
not ? If it were a way of sin that leads to death, then 
I might expect that God would resist me, and stand 
in my way with the drawn sword of his displeasure, 
or at least overtake me to my grief at last. But is he 
against the obeying of his own commands? Is perfect 
goodness opposed to any thing but evil? Does he 
bid me seek, and will he not assist me in it ? Does 
he urge me to work, and will he after all be against 
me in it ? It cannot be. O blessed rest ! glorious 
state ! Who would sell thee for dreams and shadows ? 
Who would be enticed or affrighted from thee ? Who 
would not strive, and fight, and watch, and run, and 



IX HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION". 303 

that with violence, even to the last breath, it' he may 
but hope at last to obtain thee? Surely none but 
those that know thee not. and believe not thy glory." 

Thus you see with what kind of meditations you may 
excite your courage, and raise your resolutions. 

5. The last affection to be exercised is Jor. This 
is the end of all the others; love, desire, hope and 
courage, all tend to the raising of our joy. 

Well, then, by this time, if thou hast managed well 
the former work, thou art got within view of thy rest ; 
thou believest the truth of it ; thou art convinced of 
the excellency of it; thou art fallen in love with it; 
thou longest after it ; thou hopest for it, and thou art 
resolved courageously to venture all for obtaining it. 
But is there in this any work for joy ? What ! is 
it nothing to have a deed of gift of eternal life from 
God ? Is it nothing to live in daily expectation of 
entering the kingdom ? Is not my assurance of being 
soon glorified, a ground of inexpressible joy ? Is it 
no delight to the heir of a kingdom to think of what 
he must hereafter possess, though at present he differ 
little from a servant? Am I not commanded to 
" rejoice in the hope of the glory of God ?" 

" It is the Father's good pleasure to give thee the 
kingdom." Seest thou this astonishing glory above 
thee ? Why, all this is thy own inheritance. This 
crown is thine, these pleasures are thine, this company, 
this beauteous place is thine, all are thine, because thou 
art Christ's, and Christ is God's. When thou wast 
united to him, thou hadst all this with him. 

Thus take thy heart into the land of promise. Show 
it the pleasant hills, and fruitful valleys ; show it the 
clusters of grapes which thou hast gathered, and by 
these convince it that it is a blessed land, flowing with 
something better than milk and honey. Enter the 
gates of the holy city, traverse the streets of the new 
Jerusalem, walk about Sion, go round about her, tell 
the towers thereof, mark well her bulwarks, consider 
her palaces. See, it has " the glory of God, and her 
light is like unto a stone most precious ; and it hath a 
wall great and high ; and it hath twelve gates, and at 



304 THE FACULTIES EXERCISED IN CONTEMPLATION. 

the gates twelve angels ; and the building of the wall 
is of jasper, and the city is of pure gold, like unto 
clear glass ; and the foundation of the wall is garnished 
with all manner of precious stones ; and the twelve 
gates are twelve pearls; every several gate is of one 
pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, as it were 
transparent glass; and there is no temple therein, for 
the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple 
of it. And the city hath no need of the sun, neither 
of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God doth 
lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof, and the 
nations of them which are saved shall walk in the 
light of it ; and the kings of the earth shall bring their 
glory and honour unto it ; and the gates of it shall not 
be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night 
there." What sayest thou to all this? This is thy 
rest, my soul ; this shall be the place of thy ever- 
lasting habitation. 

Here must I lodge, here must I live, here must I 
praise, here must I love, and be beloved. I shall 
shortly be one of this heavenly choir ; I shall then be 
better skilled in the music. Among this blessed com- 
pany I shall take my place. My voice shall join to 
make up the melody. My tears will then be wiped 
away ; my groans exchanged for songs of praise ; my 
cottage of clay will be exchanged for this palace, and 
my prison dress for these splendid robes. My corrupt 
flesh shall be put off, and a sun-like spiritual "body put 
on : for " the former things shall have passed away." 
" Glorious things are spoken of thee, city of God." 
There trouble and lamentation cease, and the voice of 
sorrow is not heard. When the wise men saw but 
the star of Christ, they rejoiced with exceeding great 
joy. But I shall shortly see the star of Jacob, even 
him who is the bright and morning star. If the 
women returned from the sepulchre with great joy, 
when they but heard he was risen from the dead, — 
what joy shall I feel when I shall see him not only 
risen, but reigning in ulory, and myself raised to a 
Messed communion with him? Then shall we have 
" beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and 



HELPS TO HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION 305 

the garment of praise for the spirit of heavine 
when he lias made Zion "an eternal excellency, a joy 
of many generations." 



CHAPTER VII. 

HELF* FOR EXCITING THE AFFECTIONS IN HEAVENLY 
CONTEMPLATION. 

I proceed to show you what helps you should use, 
to make your meditations of heaven more quickening, 
and more influential. This is the chief thing at which 
I aim, that you may not content yourselves simply 
with cogitation, but may have a lively sense of all 
upon your hearts. This you will find the most diffi- 
cult part of the work. It is easier barely to think of 
heaven a whole day, than to be lively and affectionate 
in these thoughts one quarter of an hour. Let us, 
therefore, yet a little further consider what may be 
done, to make your thoughts of heaven affecting, 
elevating thoughts. 

Here therefore you must understand, that the simple 
work of faith has many disadvantages with us, in 
comparison of the work of sense. Faith is imperfect, 
for we are renewed but in part ; it meets with a world 
of resistance, and being supernatural, is ever prone to 
decline and to languish, unless it is continually renewed 
and excited ; but sense is natural, and therefore con- 
tinues while nature continues. The objects of faith 
are far distant ; we must go as far as heaven for our 
joys ; but the objects of sense are near at hand. It is 
no easy matter to rejoice at that which we never saw, 
nor ever knew the man that did see it ; and this upon 
a mere promise which is written in the Bible ; but to 
rejoice in that which we see and feel, in that of which 
we have possession already, this is not difficult. Well 
then, what should be done in such a case ? Why 
surely it will be a point of spiritual prudence, and a 

26* 



306 HELPS TO HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 

singular help to the furthering of the work of faith, to 
call in our senses to its assistance. If we can make 
friends of these enemies, and make; them instruments 

of raising us to God, which are the usual means of 
drawing us from him, 1 think we shall perform a very 
excellent work. Surely it is both possible and lawful, 
yea and necessary too, to do something in this way; 
for God would not have given us either our senses 
themselves, or their usual objects, if they might not 
be serviceable to his own praise, and helps to raise us 
to the apprehension of higher things. To assist thee 
in thy meditations, attend, therefore, to the rules fol- 
lowing : — 

I. When thou settest thyself to meditate on the joys 
of heaven, think on them boldly as Scripture has 
expressed them; bringdown thy conceptions to the 
reach of sense. When we attempt to think of God 
and glory in proper conceptions without such helps, 
we are lost, and have nothing to fix our thoughts 
upon. Put Christ therefore no farther from you, than 
he has put himself, lest the Divine nature be again 
inaccessible. Think of Christ as in our own nature 
glorified ; think of your fellow saints as men made 
perfect ; think of the city as the Spirit has expressed 
it. Draw as strong suppositions as thou canst from 
thy senses for the helping of thy affections. It is 
lawful to suppose we see for the present, that which 
God has in prophecies revealed, and which we 
shall ere long really see in more unspeakable bright- 
ness. Suppose thyself now beholding the city of God ; 
and that thou hadst been companion with John in his 
survey of its glory; and hadst seen the thrones, the 
Majesty, the heavenly hosts, the shining splendour 
which he saw : suppose thou hadst been his fellow- 
traveller into the celestial kingdom, and that thou 
hadst seen the saints clothed in white robes, with 
palms of victory in their hands: suppose thou hadst 
heard the song of Moses and of the Lamb ; or didst 
-ven now hear them praising and glorifying the 
living God. If thou hadst indeed beheld all these 
things, in what a rapture wouldst thou be ! And the 



HELPS TO IIKAVHNLY CONTEMPLATION. 307 

more seriously thou pattest this supposition to thyself, 
the more will the meditation elevate thy heart. I 
would not have thee, as the papists, draw them in 
pictures, or use similar ways to represent them. This, 
as it is a course forbidden by God, so it would hut 
seduce and draw down thy heart: but get the liveliest 
picture of them in thy mind which thou possibly canst. 
Meditate on them, as if thou wert all the while behold- 
ing them, and as if thou wert even hearing the halle- 
lujahs, while thou art thinking of them, till thou canst 
say, " Methinks I see a glimpse of the glory ! Me- 
thinks I hear the shouts of joy and praise ! Methinks 
I stand by Abraham and David, Peter and Paul, and 
more of these triumphing souls ! Methinks I even 
see the Son of God appearing in the clouds, and the 
world standing at his bar to receive their doom ! 
Methinks I hear him say, Come, ye blessed of my 
Father ! and even see them go rejoicing into the joy 
of their Lord ! My very dreams of these things have 
deeply affected me : and should not these just suppo- 
sitions affect me much more ? What if I had with 
Paul seen things unutterable ? Would I not have 
been exalted (and that perhaps above measure) as 
well as he ? What if I had stood in the room of 
Stephen, and seen heaven opened, and Christ sitting 
at the right hand of God ? Surely that one sight was 
worth suffering a storm of stones. that I might but 
see what he saw, though I should also suffer what 
he suffered ! What if I had seen such a sight as 
Micaiah saw, * the Lord sitting upon his throne, and 
all the hosts of heaven standing on his right hand and 
on his left ?" Why these men of God did see such 
things; and I shall shortly see far more than ever 
they saw, till they were loosed from this flesh, as I 
shall ere long be." 

Thus you see how the conception of the state of 
blessedness, as the Holy Spirit has in condescending 
language represented it, and our raising of strong 
suppositions from our bodily senses, will further our 
affections in this heavenly work. 

II. Compare the objects of sense with the objects 



308 HELPS TO HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 

of faith. In this way we may compel sense to afford 
us that medium, from whence we may conclude the 
transcendent worth of glory, by arguing from sensitive 
delights as from the less to the greater. And here 
for your further assistance, I shall furnish you with 
some of these comparative arguments. 

1. Compare the delights above with the corrupt 
delights of sensual men. Think with yourselves, 
when you would be sensible of the joys above, Is it 
such a delight to a sinner to do wickedly ? and will it 
not be inexpressibly more delightful to live with God ? 
Has the drunkard such delight in his cups and his 
companions, that he will part with his credit, ana 
estate and salvation, rather than forsake them ? Surely 
then there are high delights with God ! If the way 
to hell can afford such pleasure, what must be the 
pleasure of the saints in heaven ! If the covetous 
man has so much pleasure in his wealth, and the 
ambitious man in power and titles of honour, what 
pleasure must the saints have in the everlasting trea- 
sures, and in the heavenly honours, when they shall 
be set above principalities and powers, and be made 
the glorious spouse of Christ ! What pleasure do the 
voluptuous find in their sensual courses ! How closely 
will they follow their recreations from morning to 
night ! How delightfully will they sit at their cards 
and dice, hours, and days, and nights together ! O 
the delight that must needs then be, in beholding the 
face of the living God, and in singing forth praises to 
him and the Lamb, which will be our recreation when 
we come to our everlasting rest ! 

2. Compare the delights above, with the lawful 
delights of the senses. Think with thyself, " How 
sweet is food to my taste when I am hungry, espe- 
cially that which my soul loves ! What delight has 
the taste in some pleasant fruits, and in some well 
relished meats ! what delight then shall my soul 
have in feeding upon Christ the living bread, and in 
eating with him at his table in his kingdom ! How 
pleasant is drink in the extremity of thirst ! The 
delight of it to a man in a fever or other drought, can 



HELPS TO HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 309 

scarcely be expressed. then how delightful will it 
be to my soul to drink of the fountain of living waters, 
of which whosoever drinks shall thirst no more ! How 
delightful are pleasing odours to the smell ! How 
delightful is perfect music to the ear ! How delight- 
ful are beauteous sights to the eye, — such as curious 
pictures, sumptuous buildings, walks, prospects, gar- 
dens stored with variety of beauteous and odoriferous 
flowers, or pleasant meadows, which are natural gar- 
dens ! then think every time thou beholdest them, 
what a fragrant smell has the precious ointment which 
is poured on the head of our glorified Saviour, and 
which will be poured on the heads of all his saints, 
and which will fill all heaven with its odour and per- 
fume ! How delightful is the music of the heavenly 
host ! How glorious the building not made with 
hands, and the house in which God himself dwells^ 
and the walks, and prospects, and the other delights 
of the celestial paradise !" 

3. Compare the delights above with the delights 
of natural knowledge. This is far beyond the delights 
of sense ; and the delights of heaven are farther 
beyond it. What a pleasure is it to dive into the 
secrets of nature, and to find out the mysteries of the 
arts and sciences ! If we make a new discovery in 
any of these, or see a little more than we saw before, 
what singular pleasure does it afford us ! Think then 
what high delights there must be in the knowledge of 
God and Christ. When we light on some choice and 
learned book, how we are taken with it ! We can 
read and study it day and night ; we can leave meat, 
and drink, and sleep, to read it. What delights then 
are there at God's right hand, where ' we shall know 
even as we are known I"' 

4. Compare the delights above with the delights of 
the natural affections. What sweetness is there in 
the exercise of natural affection to husbands or 
wives, to parents, children, or friends ! The delight 
which a pair of special faithful friends find in loving 
and enjoying one another, is most sweet and pleasing: 
" I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan," 



310 HELPS TO HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 

says David, "very pleasant hast thou been unto me ; 
thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of 
women." Think then, it' the delights of close and 
cordial friendship be so great, what delight shall we 
have in the friendship of the Most High God, and in 
our mutual amity with Jesus Christ, and in the most 
affectionate love of the angels and saints! Surely 
this will be a closer and stricter friendship than ever 
was between any friends on earth; and these will be 
more lovely and desirable friends than any that e 
the sun beheld; and our affections to our Father, and 
our Saviour, but especially his affection to us, will be 
such as here we never knew. We shall then love a 
thousand times more strongly and sweetly than now 
we can ; and as all the attributes and works of God 
are incomprehensible, so is the attribute and work of 
love. What joy will there be then in this mutual 
love ! 

5. Compare the excellencies of heaven with those 
glorious works of creation which our eyes do now 
behold. How much of wisdom, and power, and 
goodness, appears in the fair fabric of this world ! 
What skilful workmanship is there in the body of a 
man, yea in the body of every beast, and even of 
every insect and every worm ! What excellency is 
there in every plant we see, in flowers, in herbs, 
in trees, in the roots, the leaves, the fruits ! But 
especially if we contemplate the greater works of 
(iod ; if we consider the whole body of this earth, and 
its creatures, and inhabitants; the ocean of waters, the 
variation of the seasons, and of the face of the earth ; 
the interchange of spring and autumn, of summer and 
winter. When thou walkest forth in the evening, 
behold the stars, how they glisten, and in what 
numbers they bespangle the firmament. View the 
wide expanded heavens. What splendour is in the 
least of yonder stars! What a vast, what a bright 
resplendent body has yonder moon ! What an incon- 
ceivable glory has yonder sun ! Yet all this is nothing 
to the glory of heaven. Yonder sun must there be 
laid aside as useless, for it would not be seen for the 



HELPS TO HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION". 311 

brightness of Deity. This whole earth is but my 

Father's footstool. So much wisdom and power as 
appear in all these various works, so much, and far 
more greatness, and goodness, and happiness, shall I 
enjoy in the fruition of God." 

6. Compare the delights which thou shalt enjoy- 
above, with the excellency of those admirable works 
of providence, which God exercises in the church and 
in the world. What glorious things has the Lord 
wrought ! If we had seen the ten plagues of Egypt ; 
or the sea stand as a wall on the right hand, and on 
the left, and the dry land appear in the midst, and the 
children of Israel pass safely through, and Pharaoh 
and his people swallowed up; or if we had seen the 
rock gush forth streams, or the manna and quails 
rained down from heaven; or the earth open and 
swallow up the wicked, or their armies slain with 
hailstones by an angel, or by one another; — would 
not these have appeared wondrous, glorious sights ? 
But we shall see far greater things than these ; and as 
our sights shall be more wonderful, so also they shall 
be more sweet. Surely if we observe but common, 
providences, the motions of the sun, the tides of the 
ocean, the watering of the earth with rain as a garden, 
the keeping in order a confused wicked world, with 
many similar circumstances, they are all very admira- 
ble. But to think of the Zion of God, of the vision 
of the Divine Majesty, of the comely order of the 
heavenly host, how much more admirable sights wall 
these be ! 

7. Compare the mercies which thou shalt have 
above, with those temporal mercies which thou hast 
thyself enjoyed through life. If thou be a Christian 
indeed, I know thou hast, at least in thy heart, many 
precious favours upon record. The very remembrance 
and rehearsal of them is sweet: how much more 
sweet was the actual enjoyment ! But all these are 
nothing, to the mercies which are above. Look over 
the mercies of thy youth and education, the mercies 
of thy riper years, the mercies of thy prosperity, and 
of thy adversity, the mercies of thy several places and 



312 HELPS TO HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 

relations. Canst thou think on the several places in 
which thou hast lived, and not remember that they 
have each had their several mercies? how swee", 
was it to thee, when God resolved thy doubts, when 
he overcame and silenced thy fears and unbelief, 
when he rescued thee from miseries and dangers, into 
which thy own counsel would have plunged thee, 
when he eased thy pains, and healed thy diseases 
and raised thee up as from the very gates of death 
Now were not all these most precious mercies ? Yet 
these are but small things for thee in the eyes of God; 
he intends for thee far greater things than these ; they 
are scarcely a taste of what thou shalt yet enjoy. 
How sweet then will be the glory of his presence ! 
And how high will his eternal love exalt me! If my 
pilgrimage and warfare have such mercies, what shall 
I find in my home, and in my triumph ! If God 
communicate so much to me while I remain a vile 
sinner, what will he bestow when I am a perfect 
saint ! If I have had so much in this strange country, 
and at such a distance from him, what shall I have in 
heaven, in his immediate presence, where I shall ever 
stand before his throne !" 

8. Compare the comforts which thou shalt have 
above with those which thou hast here received in the 
ordinances. Have not the Holy Scriptures been to 
thee as an open fountain flowing with comforts night 
and day ? When thou hast been in trouble, there 
thou hast met with refreshing. When thy faith has 
staggered, there it has been confirmed. What suitable 
passages has the Spirit set before thee ! What season- 
able promises has he brought into thy mind! Well 
mayst thou say with David, " Unless thy law had 
been my delight, I would have perished in my 
allliction." Think then, if the word be so full of 
consolation, what overflowing springs shall we find in 
God ! If his letters are so comfortable, what will be 
the words that flow from his blessed lips, — the beams 
that stream from his glorious face ! If Luther would 
not take all the world for one leaf of the Bible, what 
would lie take for the joys which it reveals ? If the 



HELPS TO HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 319 

promise be so sweet, what will be the performance? 
It the testament of our Lord, and our charter for the 

kingdom, be so comfortable, what will be our posses- 
sion of the kingdom itself? 

Think further, « What delights have I found in the 
word preached ! How oft have I gone to church 
troubled in spirit, and returned home rejoicing! How 
oft have I gone full of doubts and fears, and God has 
sent me home with my doubts resolved, and per- 
suaded me of his love in Christ ! What cordials have 
I met with in my saddest afflictions ! What prepara- 
tives to fortify me for my next trials ! Well then, if 
the feet of the messengers of these tidings of peace be 
beautiful, how beautiful must be the face of the 
Prince of Peace ! If the treasure be so precious in 
earthen vessels, what will be the treasure that is laid 
up in heaven ! 

Think also what a joy it is to have access to God 
and acceptance with him in prayer, — that when any 
thing ails me, I may go to him and open my case, 
and unbosom my soul as to my most faithful friend, 
especially as knowing his sufficiency and willingness 
to relieve me. how surpassing, how unspeakable 
then will be my joy, when I shall receive every 
blessing that I need, and when my necessities and 
miseries shall be removed, and when God himself 
shall be the portion and inheritance of my soul ! 

What consolation also have we oft received in 
observing the Supper of the Lord ! What a privilege 
is it to be admitted to sit at his table, to have his 
covenant sealed to me by outward signs, and his 
special love sealed to my heart by his Spirit ! Yet 
all the life and comfort which these impart, consists 
in their declaring and assuring me of the comforts 
which are hereafter : their use is but darkly to signify 
and seal these higher mercies. When I shall drink 
with him of the fruit of the vine in his Father's king- 
dom, it will be indeed a pleasant feast. the differ- 
ence between the last supper of Christ on earth, and 
the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven ! 

Think yet further with thyself thus : — The commu- 

27 



314 HELPS TO HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 

nioD of the saints on earth is a most delectable mercy. 
AN'hat a pleasure is it to live with intelligent and 
heavenly Christiana ! David says, they were all his 
delight then what delightful society shall I have 
above ! The communion of saints is there somewhat 
worth, where their understandings are fully cleared, 
and their affections so highly advanced. 

9. Compare the mercies thou slialt have above, with 
the spiritual mercies which Christ has here bestowed 
on thy soul ; the glorious change which thou shalt 
have at last, with the gracious change which the Spirit 
has wrought on thy heart ; the comforts of thy glorifi- 
cation, with the comforts of thy sanctification. There 
is not the smallest grace in thee, which is genuine and 
sincere, nor a hearty desire after Christ, but is of more 
value than the kingdoms of this world. A renewed 
nature is the very image of God. If we are said to be 
like God, and to bear his image, and to be holy as he 
is holy, when, alas ! we are pressed down with a body 
of sin, — surely we shall then be much more like God, 
when we are perfectly holy and without blemish, and 
have no such thing as sin within us. Is the desire of 
heaven so precious a thing ? what then is the thing 
itself which is desired ? Is our joy in foreseeing and 
believing so sweet ? what then will be the joy in the 
full possessing ? the delight that a Christian has in 
the lively exercise of some of these affections ! What 
good does it do his very heart, when he can feelingly 
say, lie loves his Lord ! What sweetness is there in 
the very act of loving ! Yea, even those troublous 
passions of sorrow and fear, are yet delightful, when 
they are rightly exercised. What a comfort is it to 
my doubting soul, when I have a little assurance of 
the sincerity of my graces, when upon examination, I 
can trace the Spirit in his sanctifying works ! How 
much more will it comfort me, to find that the Spirit 
has safely conducted me to heaven and placed me in 
the arms of my Redeemer ! What a change was it 
that the Spirit effected upon my soul, when he " turned 
me from darkness to light, and from the power of satan 
unto God !" Why then consider, how much greater 



HELPS TO HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 315 

Will that glorious change he ! It will be beyond 

expression, beyond conception. How oft, when I 
have thought erf this change in my regeneration, have 

I cried out, blessed day, and blessed be the Lord 
that I ever saw it! How then should I cry out in 
heaven, blessed eternity, and blessed be the Lord 
that brought me to it ! Was the mercy of my con- 
version so exceeding great that the angels of God did 
rejoice to see it ? Surely then the mercy of my salva- 
tion will be so great, that the angels will congratulate 
my felicity. 

Lastly, compare the joy which thou shalt have in 
heaven, with that which the saints of God have found 
in the way to it, and in the foretaste of it. When thou 
seest a heavenly man rejoice, think what it is that so 
affects him. When did God ever reveal the least of 
himself to any of his saints, but the joy of their hearts 
was correspondent to the revelation ? Paul was so 
lifted up with what he saw, that he was in danger of 
being exalted above measure, and must have a thorn 
in the flesh to keep him humble. When Peter saw 
Christ in his transfiguration, which was but a glimpse 
of his glory, what a rapture and ecstacy is he cast 
into ! " Master," says he, " it is good for us to be 
here ; let us here build three tabernacles, one for thee, 
and one for Moses, and one for Elias ;" as if he had 
said, " let us not return to our mean and suffering 
state. Is it not better that we stay here ? Are there 
not here better company, ancl sweeter pleasures ?" 
Yet how short does Paul's vision come of the saints' 
vision above with God ! How small a part of the 
glory which we shall see, was that which so trans- 
ported Peter on the mount ! I confess these were all 
extraordinary foretastes, but little to the full beatifical 
vision. How oft have we read and heard of dying 
saints, who when they had scarcely strength and life 
enough to express themselves, have been as full of joy 
as their hearts could hold ; and when their bodies have 
been under the extremities of sickness, yea, ready to 
feel the pangs of death, have yet had so much of 
heaven in their spirits, that their joy has far surpassed 



316 HELPS TO HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 

their sorrows ! Now, if a spark of this fire be so 
glorious, and that in the midst of the sea of adversity, 
what shall that sun of glory be ! the joy which the 
martyrs of Christ have felt, in the midst of the scorch- 
ing flames ! Surely they had life and sense as well as 
we, and were flesh and blood as well as we. It must 
needs, therefore, be some excellent thing which so 
rejoices their souls, while their bodies are burning. 

Bui hast not thou thyself had some foretaste of these 
heavenly joys ? Judge then of the ocean of joy by 
those drops which thou hast tasted. Thou hast here 
enjoyed some refreshing comforts, and by this little 
thou mayst conjecture the quality of the whole. Has 
not God sometimes revealed himself extraordinarily to 
thy soul, and let a beam of glory fall upon it ? Hast 
thou not been ready to say, that it might be thus with 
my soul continually, — that I might always feel what I 
now feel ! Didst thou never cry out with the martyr, 
" He is come, he is come ?" Didst thou never, under 
a lively sermon of heaven, or in thy retired contempla- 
tions on that blessed state, perceive thy drooping spirits 
revive, and the light of heaven break forth on thy soul, 
as the morning star, or as the dawning of the day ? 
Now think with thyself, " What is the earnest to the 
full inheritance ? All this light that so amazes and 
rejoices me, is but a candle lighted from heaven, to 
lead me thither through this world of darkness ! If 
the light of a star in the night, or the little glimmering 
at the break of day be' such; what will be the light 
of the sun at noontide ? If some godly men have 
been so overwhelmed with joy, that they have cried 
out, — < Hold, Lord, stay thy hand ; I can bear no 
more !' what will be my joys in heaven, when as 
the object of my joy will be the most glorious God, so 
my soul will be made capable of seeing and enjoying 
him ; and though the light be ten thousand times 
greater than the sun's, yet shall my eyes be able to 
behold it for ever." 



MANAGEMENT OF THE HEART. 317 



CHAPTER VIII. 

OF THE MANAGEMENT OF THE HEART IN HEAVENLY 
CONTEMPLATION. 

Lastly, I proceed to guide you in managing your 
hearts through this work, and to show you wherein 
you have need to be exceedingly watchful. I have 
shown before, ivhat must be done with your hearts 
in your preparation for the work, and in your setting 
about it ; I shall now show what is to be done with 
your hearts in the performance of the duty. Our 
chief work will here be, to discover to you the danger, 
and that will direct you to the fittest remedy. Let 
me, therefore, here tell you, that whenever you set 
about this heavenly employment, you will find your 
own hearts your greatest hinderance, and they will 
prove false to you in one or all of these four degrees : 
first, — they will be so backward, that you will 
hardly get them to engage in the work ; or, secondly, — 
they will betray you by their idleness in the work ? 
pretending to do it when they do it not ; or, thirdly, — 
they will interrupt the work by their frequent excur- 
sions, and turning aside to every object which presents 
itself; or, fourthly, they will spoil the work by cutting 
it short, and be gone before you have done any good 
in it. I, therefore, forewarn you, as you value the 
inestimable comfort of this work, that you faithfully 
resist these four dangerous evils, or else all I have said 
hitherto will be in vain. 

I. Guard against the backwardness of thy heart to 
this work. Thou wilt find it as backward to this, I 
think, as to any duty in the world. what excuses 
it will make ! what evasions it will find out ! Either 
it will question, whether it be a duty or not ; or if it 
be so to others, yet whether it be so to thee. It will 

27* 



31S MANAGEMENT OF THE HEART 

take up any thing like reason to plead against it ; it 
will tell thee, that this La a work for ministers that 
have nothing else to study: or lor persons that have 
more leisure than thou hast, [f thou he a minister, 
it will tell thee, this is the duty of the people; that 
thou hast this company to wait upon, or that bush 
must be done. It may he, it will set thee upon some 
other duty, and so make one duty jostle out another; 
lor it had rather go to any duty than to this. Perhaps 
it will tell thee that other duties are greater, and 
therefore this must give place to them, because thou 
hast not time for both. Public business is of more 
concernment ; to study and to preach for the saving 
of souls must be preferred before these private con- 
templations; as if thou hadst no time to see to the 
saving of thy own soul, for looking after the souls of 
others ! Or if thy heart has nothing to say against 
the work, then it will trifle away the time in delays, 
and promise this day and the next, and still keep ofF 
from doing the business. Or, lastly, if thou wilt not 
be so baffled with excuses and delays, thy heart will 
give thee an express denial, and draw back with all 
the strength it has. 

Well, then, what is to be done in this case ? Wilt 
thou do it if I tell thee ? Why, what wouldst thou do 
with a servant that was thus backward to his work ; 
or to thy beast that should draw back, when thou 
wouldst have him go forward ? Wouldst thou not 
first persuade, and then chide, and then spur him, and 
then force him on, and take no denial, nor let him 
alone, till thou hadst got him closely to fall to his 
work ? Deal thus faithfully with thy heart ; persuade 
it to the work ; take no denial ; chide it for its back- 
wardness ; use violence with it ; bring it to the service, 
willing, or not willing. Art thou the master of thy 
flesh, or art thou a servant to it? Take up the 
authority again which God has given thee ; command 
thy heart. If it rebel, use violence with it. If thou 
be too weak, call in the Spirit of Christ to thy assist- 
ance. He is never backward to so good a work, nor 
will deny thee his help in so just a cause. God will 



IN HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 319 

be ready to help thee, if thou be not unwilling to help 
thyself. 

II. Guard against the idleness of thy heart, lest it 
trifle when it should be effectually meditating. Cer- 
tainly, thy heart is as likely to betray thee in this. ;is 
in any one particular about the duty. When thou 
hast perhaps but an hour for meditation, the time will 
be spent before thy heart will be serious. This doini: 
of duty as if we did it not, undoes as many as the 
positive omission of it. To spend the hour in a lazy 
thinking of heaven, is but to lose that hour, and 
delude thyself. Well, what is to be done in this case ? 
Keep thine eye always upon thy heart ; look not so 
much to the time thou spendest in the duty, as to the 
quantity and quality of the work that is done. 

I w r ould not have thee of the judgment of those 
who think that while they are so backward to the 
duty, it is better to let it alone ; and if mere love 
will not bring them to it, but there must be all this 
violence used to compel it, that then the service is 
worse than the omission. These men understand not, 
that this argument would cashier all spiritual obedi- 
ence, because the hearts of the best being but partly 
sanctified, will ever be resisting so far as they are 
carnal. Neither do they understand well the corrup- 
tion of their own natures ; nor, that their sinful indis- 
posedness will not baffle or suspend the commands of 
God ; nor one sin excuse another. Love, I know, is a 
most precious grace, and should have the chief interest 
in all our duties : but there are means appointed by 
God to procure this love : and shall I not use those 
means, till I can use them from love ? That were to 
neglect the means till I have the end. Must I not 
seek to procure love, till I have it already ? There 
are means also for the increasing of love where it is 
begun ; and means for the exciting of it where it is 
cold and dull. And must I not use these means, till 
it is increased and excited ? Why, this duty which I 
am recommending is the most powerful means both 
to stir up thy love, and to increase it ; and therefore, 
stay not from the duty, till thou feel thy love constrain 



320 MANAGEMENT OF THE HEART 

thee. That were to stay from the fire, till thou feel 
thyself warm; but fall to the work, till thou art con- 
strained to love : and then love will constrain thee to 
further duty. 

Let nothing, therefore, hinder thee while thou art 
upon the work, from plying thy heart with constant 
watchfulness and constraint, seeing thou hast such 
experience of its dulness and backwardness: let the 
spur be never out of its side ; and whenever it slacks 
pace, be sure to give it new remembrances of its duty. 

III. Guard against the wandering of thy heart in 
this duty. It will ever be ready to make excursions 
when you are engaged in the work. It will be turn- 
ing aside like a careless servant, to talk with every 
one that passes by. When there should be nothing 
in thy mind, but the work in hand, it will be thinking 
of thy calling, or of thy afflictions, of every bird, or 
tree, or place thou seest, or of any impertinency, 
rather than of heaven. The cure here is the same as 
before, to use watchfulness and violence with your 
own imaginations, and as soon as they step aside to 
chide them in. Say to thy heart, " What ! did I come 
hither to think of my business, or of my afflictions, — 
of places, and persons, and news, aye, of any thing 
but heaven ? What ! canst thou not watch one hour ? 
Wouldst thou leave this world, and dwell in heaven 
with Christ for ever ; and canst thou not leave it one 
hour out of thy thoughts, nor dwell with Christ in one 
hour's close meditation ?" Ask thy heart, Is this 
thy love to thy friend ? Dost thou love Christ, and 
the place of thy eternal abode no more than this ? 

Lastly, beware lest thy heart cut short the work 
before the time, and run away through weariness, 
before you have done any good in it. Thou wilt find 
it will be exceedingly prone to this. Thou mayest 
easily perceive this in other duties. If thou set thy- 
self to pray in secret, is not thy heart ever urging thee 
to cut it short ? Dost thou not frequently find a motion 
to have done? Art thou not ready to be up as soon 
almost as thou art down on thy knees? Why, so it 
will be also in thy contemplations of heaven. As last 



IN HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 321 

as thou gettest up thy heart, it will ho down again : it 

will be weary of die work; it will he reminding thee 
of other business to be executed, and stop thy heavenly 

walk, before thou hast well begun it. Well, what is 
to be done in this case? Why the same authority 
and resolution! which brought it to the work, and 
watched it in the work, must also hold it to the work 
till it be done. Charge it in the name of God to stay : 
Say to it, If thou beg a while, and go away before 
thou receivest thy alms, dost thou not lose thy labour ? 
If thou stop before thou art at the end of thy journey, 
is not every step of thy travel lost ? Thou comest 
hither to take a walk to heaven, in the hope of having 
a sight of the glory which thou must inherit; and 
wilt thou stop when thou art almost at the top of the 
hill ; and turn again before thou hast taken thy survey? 
Thou earnest hither in the hope of speaking with God, 
and wilt thou go before thou hast seen him ? Stand 
to the work, till something be done, till thy graces be 
called into action, thy affections raised, and thy soul 
refreshed with heavenly delights ; or if thou canst not 
obtain these ends at once, ply it the closer the next 
time, and let it not go till thou feel the blessing. 
" Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he 
comes, shall find so doing." 

The sum of all, then, is this ; as thou makest con- 
science of praying daily, so do thou of exercising thy 
graces in meditation ; and especially in meditating 
on the joys of heaven. To this end, set apart one 
hour or half an hour every day, wherein thou mayest 
lay aside all worldly thoughts, and with all possible 
seriousness and reverence, as if thou wast going to 
speak with God himself, or to have a sight of Christ, 
or of that blessed place. Do thou withdraw thyself into 
some secret place, and set thyself wholly to the work. 
If thou canst, choose Isaac's time and place, who went 
forth into the field in the evening to meditate : take 
the fittest time and place thou canst, though it be when 
thou art employed about thy ordinary labours. 

When thou settest about the work, look up toward 
heaven ; let thine eye lead thee as near as it can ; 



322 MANAGEMENT OF THE HEART 

remember that there is thine everlasting rest. Study- 
its excellency, study its reality, till thy unbelief is 
silenced, and thy faith prevail. If thy judgment be 
not yet drawn to admiration, use those sensible helps 
which I lately laid down. Compare thy heavenly 
joys with the choicest on earth, and so rise up from 
sense to faith. If yet this mere consideration prevail 
not, then plead the case with thy heart. Preach to 
thyself upon this text of heaven ; instruct, convince, 
reprove, examine, admonish, encourage, and comfort 
thy own soul from this celestial doctrine. Draw forth 
those several considerations of thy rest, on which thy 
several affections may work, especially that affection 
or grace which thou intendest to exercise. If it be 
love, show it the loveliness of heaven, and how suit- 
able it is to thy condition. If it be desire, consider of 
thy absence from this lovely object. If it be hope, 
consider the possibility and probability of thy obtain- 
ing it. If it be courage, consider the singular assist- 
ance and encouragements which thou mayest receive 
from God, the weakness of the enemy, and the neces- 
sity of overcoming. If it be joy, consider its excellent 
ravishing glory, thy interest in it, its certainty, and the 
nearness of the time when thou mayest possess it. 
If thy heart draw back, force it to the work. If it 
loiter, spur it on. If it step aside, command it to 
return. If it would slip away and leave the work 
undone, use thine authority; keep it close to the 
business till thou hast obtained thine end. Stir not 
away, if possible, till thy love flame, till thy joy be 
raised, till thy desire or other graces be vigorously 
exercised. Call in assistance also from God ; mingle 
ejaculations with thy cogitations and soliloquies, till 
having seriously pleaded the case with thy heart, and 
reverently pleaded the case with God, thou hast pleaded 
thyself from a forgetful sinner to a mindful lover, from 
a lover of the world, to a thirster after God, from a 
fearful coward to a resolved Christian, from an un- 
fruitful sadness, to a joyful life. In a word, what can- 
not be done one day, do the next, till thou hast pleaded 
thy heart from earth to heaven, — from conversing 



IN HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 323 

below, to walking with God ; and till thou canst lay 
thy heart to rest, as in the bosom of thy Redeemer, in 

this meditation of thy full and everlasting rest. 



CHAPTER IX. 

AN EXAMPLE OF HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 

Having showed thee how thou must engage in this 
duty, I shall now, by way of example, show thee the 
manner in which thou must perform it. All we have 
done has been but to set the instrument, thy heart, in 
tune ; and now we come to the music itself. All this 
has been but to excite in thee an appetite ; it follows 
now, that thou approach to the feast, that thou sit 
down and take what is presented before thee, and 
delight thy soul " as with marrow and fatness." Who- 
ever you are that are children of the kingdom, I have 
this message to you from the Lord, " Behold my dinner 
is prepared ; the oxen and fatlings are killed : come, 
for all things are now ready." Heaven is before you, 
Christ is before you, the " exceeding and eternal weight 
of glory " is before you. Make not light of this invita- 
tion; put not off your own mercies with excuses. 
Whoever thou art, whether rich or poor, though in 
alms houses or hospitals, though in highways or 
hedges, my commission is, if possible, to compel you 
to come in : " Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the 
kingdom of God." The manna lies about your tents. 
Walk forth into the wilderness, gather it up, take it 
home, and feed upon it. The remaining work, there- 
fore, is only to use your understandings for the warm- 
ing of your affections, and to fire your hearts by the 
help of your heads. 



324 an BZ LMFLS OF 



SECTION I. 

Jlctings of Judgment. 

Rest ! how sweet the sound ! It is melody to my ears 
It is a reviving cordial to my heart. Rest ! not as the 
stone that rests on the earth, nor as the flesh shall rest 
in the grave. Nor is it the satisfying of our fleshly 
lusts, nor such a rest as the carnal world desires. Rest 
we shall from all our labours, as the way and means 
to rest, but yet that is the smallest part. blessed 
rest ! when we shall never rest day nor night, saying, 
Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty ; when we shall 
rest from sin, but not from worship, from suffering and 
sorrow, but not from solace and joy. blessed day ! 
when I shall rest with God, when I shall rest in the 
arms and bosom of my Lord ! when my perfect soul 
and body shall together perfectly enjoy the most per- 
fect God ! when God, who is love itself, shall perfectly 
love me, yea, " rest in his love " to me, as I shall rest 
in my love to him; and "rejoice over me with joy 
and singing," as I shall rejoice in him ! 

How near is that most blessed, joyful day ! It 
comes apace. " He that shall come, will come, and 
will not tarry." Though my Lord seem to delay his 
coming, yet a little while and he will be .here. What 
are a few hundred years when they are over ? How 
surely will his sign appear ; and how suddenly will 
he seise upon the careless world, even as the lightning 
that shines from east to west in a moment ! Methinks 
I even hear the voice of his forerunners ! Methinks 
I see him coming in the clouds, with his attending 
angels in majesty and glory. 

Now blessed saints that have believed and obeyed, 
this is the end of your faith and patience ; this is "that 
for which you prayed and waited. Do you now 
repent your sufferings and sorrows, your self-denying 
and holy walking ? Are your tears of repentance 



HEAVENLV CONTEMPLATION. 

now sweet or bitter? see how tlie Judge smiles 
upon you ! There is love in his looks ; the titles of 
Redeemer, Husband, Head, are written in his amiable, 

shining face. Hark! he calls you. joyful sentence 

pronounced by that blessed mouth ! " Come, ye bles- 
sed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for 
you from the foundation of the world !" See how 
your Saviour takes you by the hand ; the kingdom is 
yours ; there is your place before his throne. The 
Father bids you welcome to the crown of glory ; how- 
ever unworthy, you must be crowned. This was the 
project of redeeming grace, — this the purpose of eter- 
nal love. blessed grace ! blessed love ! the 
frame my soul will then be in ! how love and joy 
will fill my bosom ! But I cannot express it ! I can- 
not conceive it ! 

This is that joy which was procured by sorrow ; this 
is that crown which was procured by the cross. My 
Lord wept that my tears might now be wiped away ; 
he bled that I might now rejoice ; he died that I might 
now live. This weeping, wounded Lord, shall I 
behold : this bleeding Saviour shall I see, and live 
with him that died for me. free mercy, that can 
exalt so vile a wretch ! free to me, though dear to 
Christ ! sovereign grace that has chosen me, when 
thousands were forsaken ! 

Here I shall live with all the saints ! comfort- 
able meeting of my old acquaintance with whom I 
prayed, and wept, and suffered, — with whom I spake 
of this day and place ! I see the grave could not con- 
tain you ; the earth and sea must give up their dead. 
This is not like our cottages of clay ; nor like our 
prisons, or earthly dwellings. This voice of joy is not 
like our old complainings, our groans, our sighs, our 
impatient moans ; nor this melodious praise like the 
scoffs and revilings, the oaths and curses which we 
heard on earth. This body is not like the body we 
had, nor this soul like the soul we had, nor this life 
like the life we lived. We have changed our place, 
we have changed our state, our thoughts, our looks, 
our language ; we have changed, for the greater part, 

28 



326 AN EXAMPLE OF 

our company, and the rest of our company is itself 
changed. Where is now the body of sin, which vexed 
themselves and all about them ? Where are now our 
different judgments, our divided spirits, our exas- 
perated passions, our strange looks, our uncharitable 
censures? Now we are all of one name, of one judg- 
ment, of one heart, of one glory. sweet reconcilia- 
tion ! O happy union ! which makes us first to be 
one with Christ, and then to be one among ourselves ! 

Thou shalt never suffer thy old temptations from 
Satan, the world, or thy own flesh. Thy body will 
no more be such a burden to thee ; thy pains and sick- 
nesses are all now cured ; thou shalt be troubled with 
weakness and weariness no more. Thy head is not 
now an aching head ; nor thy heart an aching heart. 
Thy hunger and thirst, thy cold and sleep, thy labour 
and study, are all gone. what a mighty change is 
this ! From the dunghill to the throne ! from a vile 
body, to a body as bright as the sun in the firmament ! 
from complainings under the displeasure of God, to 
the perfect enjoyment of him in love ! from all my 
fearful thoughts of death, to this most blessed joyful 
life ! what a blessed change is this ! Farewell sin 
and suffering for ever; farewell my hard and rocky 
heart ; farewell my proud and unbelieving heart ; fare- 
well my atheistical, worldly, sensual, carnal heart ; 
farewell repentance, confession, and supplication ; fare- 
well the most of hope and faith ; and welcome love, 
and joy and praise. Welcome most holy, heavenly 
nature, which as it must be employed in beholding the 
face of God, so is it full of God alone, and delights in 
nothing else but him. who can question the love 
which he so sweetly tastes, or doubt of that which 
with such joy he feels? Whatever mixture is in the 
streams, there is nothing but pure joy in the fountain. 
Here I shall be encircled with eternity, and come forth 
no more ; here I shall ever live, and ever praise my 
Lord. My face will not wrinkle, nor my hair be 
gray ; but this mortal shall have put on immortality, 
and this corruptible incorruption, and death shall be 
swallowed up in victory. * death, where is now 



HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. ,'427 

thy sting ! grave where is thy victory I" When 
millions of ages are past, my glory will be hut begin- 
ning; ami when millions more are past, it will be no 
nearer ending. Every day is all noontide, and every 
month is summer, and every year is there a jubilee, 
and every age is full manhood, and all this is one 
eternity. blessed eternity ! The glory of my glory ! 
the perfection of my perfection ! 



SECTION II. 

Jlctings of Faith. 

Ah drowsy, earthly heart, how coldly dost thou think 
of this reviving day ! Dost thou sleep when thou 
thinkest of eternal rest ? Art thou inclining earth- 
ward, when heaven is before thee ? Hadst thou 
rather sit down here than walk in the court of the 
palace of God ? Dost thou now remember thy worldly 
business, thy carnal pleasures, thy merry company ? 
Wretched heart ! Is it better to be there than above 
with God ? Is the company better ? Are the pleasures 
greater ? Come away, make no excuse, make no 
delay. Gird up thy loins, ascend the mount, and look 
about thee with the eye of faith. Look not back 
upon the way of the wilderness, except it be when 
thine eyes are dazzled with the glory of God, or when 
thou wouldst compare the kingdom with that howling 
desert, that thou mayest perceive more sensibly the 
mighty difference. Fix thine eye upon the sun itself, 
and look not down to earth as long as thou art able to 
behold it, except it be to discern more clearly the 
brightness of the one, by the darkness of the other. 
Yonder, is thy Father's glory, — yonder must thou 
dwell when thou leavest this earth, — yonder must thou 
remove, my soul, when thou departest from this 
body ; and when the power of thy Lord shall raise it 
again, and join thee to it, yonder shalt thou live with 
God for ever. There is the New Jerusalem, the gates 
of which are of pearl, the foundations of precious 
stones, the streets and pavement of transparent gold. 



328 AN EXAMPLE OF 

Beholdcst thou that sun which lights all this world ? 
It shall be taken down as useless there, for the glory 
of God will darken and extinguish it. 

What thinkest thou, my soul, of this most blessed 
state ? What ! dost thou stagger at the promise of 
God, through unbelief? Though thou say nothing, or 
even profess belief, yet thou speakest so coldly and so 
customarily, that I much suspect thee. I know thy 
infidelity is thy natural vice. Didst thou believe 
indeed, thou wouldst be more affected with it. Why, 
hast thou not it under the hand, and seal, and oath of 
God ? Can God lie ? Has God made thee a promise 
of rest, and wilt thou come short of it, and shut out 
thyself, through unbelief? Thine eyes may fail thee, 
thy ears deceive thee, — and all thy senses prove delu- 
sions, sooner than a promise of God can delude thee. 

And is this rest so sweet and so sure ? then, 
what mean the careless world ? Do they know what 
it is they so neglect ? Do they know for certain that 
the crown is before them, while they thus sit still, or 
follow trifles ? Surely they act like men beside them- 
selves, to mind so much their provision by the way, 
to strive, and care, and labour for trifles, when they 
are hasting so fast to another world, and their eternal 
happiness lies at stake. Had they one spark of reason 
left, they would never sacrifice their rest for toil, or 
sell their rest for worldly vanities, or venture heaven 
for the pleasures of sin. Ah, poor sinners ! would 
that ye considered what yoli hazard, and then you 
would scorn these tempting baits. blessed for ever 
be that love, that has rescued me from this bewitching 
darkness ! 



SECTION III. 

Actings of Love. 

Draw yet nearer, my soul ; bring forth thy strongest 
burning love. Here is matter for it to work upon ; 
here is something truly worth thy loving. see what 
beauty presents itself. Is it not exceedingly lovely ? 



HKAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 320 

Is not all the beauty in the world united here ? Here 
is a Beast for thine eyes; a least for the powers o[ thy 

soul. Dost thou need to be entreated to feed upon it ? 
Canst thou love a little shilling earth ? Dost thou love 
a piece of animated clay ? And wilt thou not love 
that Grod, that Christ, that glory which are so truly, SO 
immeasurably lovely ? 

Thou lovest thy friend because he loves thee; and 
is the love of any friend like the love of Christ ? Their 
weeping or bleeding for thee does not ease thee, nor 
stay the course of thy tears or blood ; but the tears 
and blood that fell from thy Lord and Saviour have 
all a sovereign healing virtue, and are a balsam to thy 
wounds. my soul ! if love deserve, and. should 
beget love, what incomprehensible love is here ! Pour 
out all the store of thy affections here ; and all is too 
little. that it were more ! 

my soul ! dost thou love excellence ? Why, thou 
seest nothing here below but baseness, except as they 
relate to thy enjoyments above. Yonder twinkling 
stars, that shining moon, this radiant sun, are all but 
as lanterns hung out from thy Father's house, to light 
thee while thou walkest amidst the darkness of the 
earth. But little dost thou know (ah little indeed,) 
the glory and blessed mirth that are within ! 

Dost thou love what is suitable ? Why, what person 
more suitable than Christ ! His Godhead, his Man- 
hood, his fulness, his freeness, his willingness, his 
constancy, all proclaim him most suitable as thy friend. 
What more suitable to thy misery, than his mercy ? 
Or to thy sinfulness than his pardoning love ? What 
place more suitable to thee than heaven ? Thou hast 
had sufficient trial of this world. Dost thou find it 
agree with thy nature or desires ? Are these heavy 
sufferings, these substantial vanities suitable to thee ? 

Or dost thou love for interest and near relation ? 
Why, where hast thou better interest than in heaven ! 
or where hast thou nearer relation than there ! 

Dost thou love for acquaintance and familiarity ? 
Why, though thine eyes have never seen thy Lord, 
yet he is never far from thee. Thou hast heard the 

28 * 



330 AN EXAMPLE OF 

voice of Christ to thy very heart ; thou hast received 
innumerable benefits from him; and art thou not yet 
acquainted with him? It is lie that brought thee 
safely into the world; it is he that nursed thee up in 
thy tender infancy, and helped thee when thou couldst 
not help thyself. He taught thee to go, to speak, to 
read, to understand. He taught thee to know thy- 
self and him. He opened to thee that first window 
whereby thou sawest into heaven. Hast thou for- 
gotten, since thy heart was cold and careless, and he 
did quicken it ; and hard and stubborn, and he did 
soften it, and make it yield ? 

O methinks I yet remember his voice, and feel 
those embracing arms that took me up. How gently 
did lie handle me ! how carefully did he dress my 
wounds and bind them up ! My Saviour and my 
Lord, thou hast broken my heart ; thou hast revived, 
thou hast overcome, thou hast won my heart. Take 
it, it is thine. If such a heart can please thee, take it; 
if it cannot, make it such as thou wouldst have it. 
Thus, my soul, mayst thou remember the sweet 
familiarity thou hast had with Christ. He has been 
always ready, when thou hast earnestly sought him. 
He has given thee the meeting in public and in 
private. He has been found of thee in the congrega- 
tion, in thy house, m thy chamber, in the field, in the 
way as thou wast walking, in thy waking nights, in 
thy deepest dangers. 

if bounty and compassion be an attractive of 
love, how immeasurably am I bound to love him ! 
All the mercies that have filled up my life tell me 
this ; every condition of life through which I have 
passed, all my employments, and all my relations, 
every change that has happened to me, — all tell me, 
that the fountain is overflowing goodness. 

Lord, what a sum of love do I owe thee ! and how 
does my debt continually increase ! How should I 
love again for so much love ! But what ? Shall I 
dare to think of making thee a requital ! or of recom- 
pensing thy love with mine ! No, Lord, I yield, I 
am overcome. blessed conquest ! Go on victo 



HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 331 

nously, and still prevail, and triumph in thy love. 

The captive 1 of love shall proclaim thy victory, when 
thou leadest me in triumph from death to lite, trom 
earth to heaven, from the tribunal to the throne. 

Yet let me love thee in subjection to thy love, as 
thy redeemed captive, though not thy peer. Shall I 
not love at all, because I cannot reach thy measure ? 
Jr at least, let me heartily wish to love thee. Though 
1 may not be able to say as Peter, Thou knowest that 
I love thee ; yet can I say, Lord, thou knowest that I 
would love thee. 



SECTION IV. 

Actings of Joy. 

Awake my drowsy soul ! leave these earthly cells 
and hear thy Lord bid thee rejoice. Thou hast lain 
here long enough in thy prison of flesh, where satan 
has been thy jailor, and the cares of this world have 
been thy irons, and fears thy scourge, and the bread 
and water of affliction thy food, and a carnal, hard 
unbelieving heart the iron gates and bars that have 
kept thee in, that thou couldst scarcely have leave to 
look through the lattices, and see one glimpse of the 
immortal light. The angel of the covenant now calls 
thee, and strikes off thy chains, and bids thee arise 
and follow him. Up, my soul, and cheerfully obey, 
and thy bolts and bars will all fly open ; follow the 
Lamb whithersoever he leads thee. Art thou afraid 
because thou knowest not whither ? Shouldst thou 
fear to follow such a guide ? Can the sun lead thee 
to a state of darkness ? Will he lead thee to death, 
who died to save thee from it? Follow him, and he 
will give thee a sight of the New Jerusalem ; he will 
show thee the paradise of God ; he will give thee a 
taste of the tree of life. I know, he would have my 
joys exceed my sorrows ; he has spread for me a table 
in this wilderness, and furnished it with the promises 
of everlasting glory, and set before me angels' food, 



332 AN EXAMPLE OF 

and lie invites me to sit down, and feed plenteously 
thereon as a foretaste of the high delights of heaven. 
But, ah my Lord) thy feast is nothing to me with 

out an appetite. Thou hast set the dainties of heaven 
before me, but alas, I am blind, and cannot see them; 
1 am sick and cannot relish them; I am so benumbed, 
that 1 cannot put forth my hand to take them. I 
therefore humbly beg thy grace, that as thou hast 
opened heaven to me in thy blessed word, so thou 
wouldst open mine eyes to see it, and my heart to 
delight in it, else heaven will be no heaven to me. 

Away soul tormenting cares and fears ! Away ye 
importunate heart-vexing sorrows! At least forbear 
me a little while; stand by, and trouble not my 
aspiring soul; stay here below, whilst I go up, and 
my rest The way is strange to me, but not to 
Christ There was the eternal dwelling of his glorious 
Deity: and thither has he also brought his assumed 
glorified flesh. It was his work to purchase it ; it is 
his work to prepare it, and to prepare me for it, and 
to bring me to it. The eternal God of truth has 
given me his promise, his seal, and his oath to assure 
me, that believing in Christ I shall not perish, but 
have everlasting life. Thither shall my soul be 
speedily removed, and my body will very shortly 
follow. It is not so far, but he that is every where 
can bring me thither; nor so difficult and unlikely but 
omnipotency can effect it. And though this unbelief 
may diminish my delights, and much abate my joys 
in -the way ; yet shall it not abate the love of my 
Redeemer, nor make the promise of none effect. And 
can my tongue say, that I shall shortly and surely 
live with God ; and yet my heart not leap within me ? 
Can I say it believingly, and not rejoicingly? Ah 
faith ! how sensibly do I now perceive thy weakness ! 
Ah unbelief! if I had never heard or known it before, 
how sensibly do I HOW perceive thy malicious tyranny. 
But, though thou darken my light, and dull my life, 
and suppress my joys, yet shall thou not he able to 
conquer and destroy me. There shall I and my joys 
survive, when thou art dead; and though thou envy 



HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 333 

all my comforts, yet some, in despite of thee, I shall 
even here receive. But were it not for thee, what 
abundance might I have! The light of heaven would 

shine into my heart, and I might be as familiar there 
as I am on earth. 

Come away, my soul, then ; stop thine ears to the 
ignorant language of infidelity. Thou art able to 
answer all its arguments ; or if thou be not, yet tread 
them under thy feet. Come away, stand not looking 
on that grave, nor turning up those bones, nor reading 
thy lesson in the dust. These lines will soon be 
wiped out. But raise thy eyes to heaven ; and see 
thy name in golden letters written in the book of life 
before the foundation of the world. What if an 
angel from heaven should tell thee, that there is a 
mansion prepared for thee ; that it shall certainly be 
thine own, and thou shalt possess it for ever ? Would 
not such a message make thee glad ? And dost thou 
make light of the infallible promises which were 
delivered by the Holy Spirit, and by the Son himself? 
Suppose thou hadst seen a fiery chariot come for thee, 
to carry thee up to heaven like Elijah. Would not 
this rejoice thee ? Why, my Lord assures me, that 
the soul of Lazarus, though a beggar, goes not forth 
of its corrupted flesh, but a convoy of angels are ready 
to attend it, and carry it to Abraham's bosom. Can 
meat and drink delight me when I am hungry and 
thirsty ? Can I find pleasure in walks, and gardens, 
and convenient dwellings? Can beauteous sights 
delight mine eyes, and sweet odours my smell', and 
melodious sounds mine ears? And shall not the 
forethought of the celestial bliss delight me ? What 
delight have I found in my private studies, especially 
Avhen they have prospered to the increase of my know- 
ledge ! Methinks I could bid the world farewell, and 
immure myself among my books, and look forth no 
more (were it a lawful course,) but as Heinsius in his 
library at Leyden, shut the doors upon me, and as in 
the lap of eternity, employ myself with sweet content 
among those divine souls, and pity the rich and great 
ones that know not this happiness. If Lipsius thought 



334 AN EXAMPLE OF 

when he did but read Seneca, that he was upon 
Olympus' top, above mortality and human things,— 
what a case shall I be in when I am beholding Christ ! 
How delectable will my life be, when I shall fully 
and clearly know those things which the most learned 
do now know but doubtfully and darkly! In one 
hour I shall see all my difficulties vanish, and all my 
doubts resolved. Yea all the depths of divinity will 
be uncovered to me, and the book of God unsealed, 
and mine eyes opened. In knowing God, I shall 
know all things, that are fit or good for the creature 
to know. If the Queen of Sheba came from Ethiopia 
to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and see his glory, O 
how gladly should I leave this country ! how cheer- 
fully should I pass from earth to heaven to see the 
glory of the Eternal Majesty ; and to attain myself 
that height of wisdom, in comparison of which the 
most learned on earth are ignorant silly fools ! If 
Bernard was so ravished with the delights of his 
monastery (where he lived in poverty, without the 
common pleasures of the world,) because of its green 
banks, and shady bowers, and herbs, and trees, and 
various objects to feed the eyes, and fragrant smells, 
and sweet and various tunes of birds, together with 
the opportunity of devout contemplations, that he 
cries out in admiration, " Lord, what abundance of 
delights dost thou provide even for the poor \" — how 
should I be ravished with the heaven of heavens, 
which is not formed by the art of man, but is the 
matchless palace of the great King, built by himself 
for the residence of his glory, and the perpetual enter- 
tainment of his beloved saints ; where, instead of 
herbs, and trees, and birds, and bowers, I shall enjoy 
God and my Redeemer, angels, saints, and other in- 
expressible pleasures ; and therefore should with more 
admiration cry out, " Lord, what delights hast thou 
provided for us miserable and unworthy creatures 
that wait for thee !" If the honour of the ambitious, 
or the wealth of the covetous person increase; if they 
have a little more land or money, than their neigh- 
bours, how easily you may see it in their countenance 



HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 335 

and carriage. How high do they look ! how big do 

they speak! how stately and lofty do they demean 
themselves ! And shall not the heavenly loftiness and 
height of my spirit, discover my title to this promised 
land ? Shall I be the adopted son of God, and co-heir 
with Christ of that blessed inheritance and daily look 
when I am to be put into possession; and shall not 
this be seen in my joyful countenance ? What if God 
had made me commander of the earth? What if 
the mountains would remove at my command ? 
What if I could heal all diseases with a word or a 
touch ? What if the infernal spirits were all at 
my command? Should I not rejoice in such privi- 
leges and honours as these ? Yet is it my Saviour's 
command, not to rejoice because the devils are sub- 
ject to us ; but because our names are written in 
heaven. 

I cannot here enjoy my parents, or my near and 
beloved friends without some delight. When I freely 
let out my affections to them, how sweet is that very 
exercise of love ! what will it then be to live in 
the perpetual love of God? For brethren here to 
dwell together in unity, how good and pleasant a 
thing is it ! To see a family live in love, — husbands, 
wife, parents, children, servants, doing all in love to 
one another : to see a town live together in love, with- 
out any envyings, brawlings, heart-burnings, conten- 
tions, scorns, law-suits, factions or divisions, but every 
man loving his neighbour as himself, and thinking they 
can never do too much for one another ; but striving to 
go beyond each other in love, how happy and delec- 
table a sight is this ! what a blessed society will be 
the family of heaven ! what a happy community the 
inhabitants of the New Jerusalem, where there is no 
division, no differing judgments, no disaffection, no 
strangeness, no deceitful friendship, never an angry 
thought or look, never a cutting unkind expression, 
but all are one in Christ, and live together in harmony 
and love ! Ah wretched, fleshly unbelieving heart ! 
that can think of such a day, and work, and life as 
this, with so low, and dull, and feeble joys ! 



336 AN EXAMPLE OF 

How delectable is it to me to behold and study the 
inferior works of God! What a beautiful fabric is 
this great house in which we here dwell ! The floor 
so drest with various herbs, and flowers, and trees, 
and watered with springs, and rivers, and seas ! The 
roof so wide expanded, so admirably adorned, such 
astonishing workmanship in every part ! O then 
what a dwelling must that needs be, which he prepares 
for pure, refined, spiritual, glorified beings, and which 
he will bestow only upon his own children ! As far 
as our perfected glorified bodies will excel this frail 
corruptible flesh, so far will the glory of the New 
Jerusalem exceed all the present glory of the creatures. 
The change upon our mansion, will be proportionable 
to the change upon ourselves. Arise then, my 
soul, by these steps, in thy contemplation ; and let thy 
thoughts of that glory exceed as far in sweetness thy 
thoughts of the excellencies below. 

How delightful is it to my soul, to review the 
working of Providence for myself, to read over the 
records and catalogues of those special mercies where- 
with my life has been adorned and sweetened ! How 
often have my prayers been heard, and my tears 
regarded, and my groaning, troubled soul relieved, and 
my Lord has bid me, " Be of good cheer !" He has 
healed me when, in respect of means, I was incurable. 
He has helped me, when I was helpless. In the 
midst of my supplications, has he eased and revived 
me : he has taken me up from my knees, and from 
the dust where I have lam in sorrow and despair ; 
even the cries which have been occasioned by distrust 
has he regarded. What a support are these experi- 
ences to my fearful unbelieving heart ! These testi- 
monies of my Father's love, do put life into my 
alllicted drooping spirit ! then, what a blessed day 
will that be, when I shall have all mercy, perfection 
of mercy, nothing but mercy ! When I shall stand 
on the shore, and look back upon the raging seas 
which I have safely passed; when I shall in full 
possession of glory, take a retrospect of all my pains 
and troubles, and fears and tears, and shall behold the 



HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 3J7 

glory there enjoyed, which was the end of all these 
trials, — what a blessed view will that be ! glori- 
ous prospect which I shall have from the celestial 
mount Zion ! If one drop of lively faith wen; even 
now mixed with these considerations, what work 
would they make in my breast! what a heaven- 
ravished heart would I carry within me ! Fain would 
I believe : " Lord, help my unbelief." 

Consider further, my soul, how sweet have the 
ordinances been to thee ! What raptures hast thou 
had in prayer and under heavenly sermons ! What 
joys in days of thanksgiving, after eminent deliver- 
ances to the church, or to thyself! What delight do 
I find in the society of the saints f To be among my 
humble faithful neighbours and friends ; to join with 
them in the frequent worship of God ; to see their 
growth and stability and soundness of understanding ; 
to see those daily added to the church who shall be 
saved ; what high delight does this afford me ! How 
glad have I been to go up to the house of God ! 
Especially after long confinement by sickness, when I 
have been released and admitted to join with the 
people of God in their solemn assemblies, and to set 
forth the praises of my great Deliverer ! How sweet 
is my work in preaching the gospel, and inviting 
sinners to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and 
opening to them the treasures of Divine grace ! 
Especially when God blesses my endeavours with 
plenteous success, and gives me to see the fruit of my 
labours ! This alone has been a greater joy to my 
heart, than if I had been made the lord of all the 
riches of this earth. then how can my heart con- 
ceive that joy, which I shall have on my admittance 
into the celestial temple and into the heavenly host, 
that shall do nothing but praise the Lord for ever ! — 
when we shall say to Christ, Here am I, and the 
children whom thou hast given me ; and when Christ 
shall present us all to his Father, and the church shall 
be all gathered, and perfected ! How far would I go 
to see one of those blessed angels, which appeared to 
Abraham, to Lot, to John ; or to speak with Enoch, 

29 



333 AN EXAMPLE OF 

or Elijah, or any saint who had lived with God, — 
especially if he would resolve all my doubts, and 
describe to me the celestial habitations ! How much 
more desirable must it needs be to live with these 
blessed saints and angels, and to see and possess as 
well as they ! It is written of Erastus, that he was so 
desirous to learn, that it would have been sweet to 
him even to die, if he might thereby but be resolved 
of those doubtful questions wherein he could not 
satisfy himself. How sweet then should it be to me 
to die, that I may not only be resolved of all my 
doubts, but also know what before I never did think 
of, and enjoy what before I never knew ! It was a 
happy dwelling that the apostles had with Christ ; to 
be always in his company, to see his face, and hear 
him open to them the mysteries of the kingdom. But 
it will be another kind of happiness to dwell with him 
in glory. 

Rouse up thyself, my soul, and consider; can the 
foresight of this glory make others embrace the stake, 
and kiss the faggot, and welcome the cross, and refuse 
deliverance ? And shall it not make thee cheerful 
under less sufferings ? Can it sweeten the flames to 
them ? And shall it not sweeten thy life, or thy sick- 
ness, or thy natural death ? If a glimpse of it could 
make Moses' face to shine, and Peter on the mount 
so transported, and Paul so exalted, and John so 
wrapt up in the Spirit, why should it not somewhat 
revive me with delight ? Doubtless it would, if my 
thoughts were more believing. Is it not the same 
heaven in which they and I must live ? Is not their 
God, their Christ, their crown, and mine the same ? 
Nay, how many a poor despised Christian have I 
seen, mean in parts, but rich in faith, who could 
rejoice and triumph in hope of this inheritance ! 

Consider also, my soul, what a beauty there is in 
the imperfect graces of the Spirit here ! So great are 
they, that they are called the image of God : and can 
any created excellency have a more honourable title ? 
And yet how small a part are these of what we shall 
enjoy in our perfect state ! O how precious a mercy 



HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 339 

would I esteem it, if God would but take away my 
bodily infirmities, and restore me to some comfortable 
measure of health and strength, that I might be able 
with cheerfulness, to go through his work. How pre- 
cious a mercy then will it be, to have all my corruptions 
removed, and my soul perfected, and my body also 
raised to so high a state, as I now can neither desire nor 
conceive ! Surely as health of body, so health of soul, 
carries an inexpressible sweetness along with it. Were 
there no reward besides, yet every gracious act is a re- 
ward and comfort. Never had I the least stirring of love 
to God, but I felt a heavenly sweetness accompanying 
it : the very act of loving was inexpressibly sweet. 
What a happy life would I here live, could I but love 
as much as I would, and as often, and as long as I 
would ! Could I be all love, and always loving ! 
my soul, what wouldst thou give for such a life ! 
my soul, what a blessed state wilt thou shortly be in, 
when thou shalt have far more of these than thou 
canst now desire ; and shalt exercise all thy perfected 
graces upon God in his immediate presence and in 
open vision, and not as now in the dark, and at a 
distance ! 

But, alas, what a loss am I at in the midst of my 
contemplations ! I thought my heart had all this 
while followed these meditations, but I see it does 
not. And shall I let my understanding go on alone ? 
or my tongue run on without affections ? What life 
is in empty thoughts and words ? Neither God nor 
I find pleasure in them. 

Rather let me turn back, and chide this lazy loiter- 
ing heart, that turns off from such a pleasant work as 
this. Where hast thou been, unworthy heart, while 
I was opening to thee the everlasting treasures? 
Didst thou sleep, or wast thou minding something 
else ; or dost thou think that all this is but a fable or 
a dream, as uncertain as the predictions of some pre- 
sumptuous astrologer? Art thou not ashamed to 
complain so much of an uncomfortable life, and to 
murmur at God for filling thee with sorrows, when he 
offers thee in vain the delights of angels, and when 



340 AN EXAMPLE OF 

thou treadest under foot these transcendent pleasures? 
Thou wilfully pinest away in grief, and art ready to 
charge thy Father with imkindness for making thee 
only a vessel of displeasure, a channel for the waters 
of affliction to run in, when, in the meantime, thou 
mightest live a life of joy. Hadst thou now but fol- 
lowed me closely, and applied thyself by faith to that 
which I have spoken, and drunk in but half the 
comfort which it holds forth, it would have made thee 
revive and leap for joy, and forget thy sorrows, and 
diseases, and pains ; but seeing thou judgest thyself 
unworthy of comfort, it is but just that comfort should 
be taken from thee. 

Lord, what is the matter that this work goes on so 
heavily ? Did I think my heart had been so backward 
to rejoice ? If it had been to mourn, and fear, and 
despair, it were no wonder. I have been lifting at 
this stone, and it will not stir ; I have been pouring 
the water of life into the mouth of the dead. I hope, 
Lord, by the time I come to heaven, this heart will 
be quickened by thy Spirit, or else even the joys of 
Paradise will scarce rejoice me. 

But besides my darkness, deadness, and unbelief, 
I perceive there is something else that forbids my full 
desired joys. This is not the time and place where 
so much is given: the time is our winter, not our 
harvest : the place is called the valley of tears. There 
must be great difference between the way and the 
end, the work and the wages, the foretastes and the 
full fruition. 



SECTION V. 

•Actings of Desire. 

But, Lord, though thou hast reserved our joys for 
heaven, yet hast thou not so suspended our desires. 
They are most suitable and seasonable in the present 
life. help me, therefore, to desire till I may 



IIKAVKXLV CONTEMPLATION. 341 

possess, and lot me loag, when I cannot, as I would, 
rejoice. There is love in desire, as well as in delight ; 
and if I be not empty of love, I know I shall not long 

empty of delight 

Rouse up thyself once more then, my soul, and 
try and exercise thy spiritual appetite. Though thou 
art ignorant and unbelieving, yet art thou reasonable, 

and therefore must needs desire happiness and rest. 
Nor canst thou surely be so unreasonable as to dream 
of attaining them here on earth. Thou knowest to 
thy sorrow that thou art not yet at thy rest. Thy 
own feeling convinces thee of thy present unhappi- 
ness; and dost thou know that thou art restless, and 
yet art thou willing to continue so? Art thou happy 
neither in deed, nor in desire ? Art thou neither well, 
nor wouldst be well ? When my flesh is pained, and 
languishes under consuming sickness, how heartily 
and frequently do I cry out, "0 when thall I be eased 
of this pain ? when shall my decaying strength be 
recovered ?" There is no dissembling or formality in 
these desires and groans. How then should I long 
for my final full recovery ! " when shall I arrive at 
that safe and quiet harbour, where there are no storms 
or dangers ; where I shall never more have a weary 
restless night or day I" Then shall not my life be 
such a medley of hope and fear, of joy and sorrow, 
as now it is ; nor shall my soul be as a pitched field, 
where faith and unbelief, trust and distrust, humility 
and pride, maintain a continual distracting conflict. 
Then shall I not live a dying life for fear of dying, 
nor my life be made uncomfortable for the fear of 
losing it. when shall I be past these soul torment- 
ing cares, and griefs, and passions ! When shall I be 
free of this frail, corruptible, ruinous body ! When 
shall I be delivered from this vain, vexatious, ensnaring 
world, whose pleasures are delusive dreams and sha- 
dows, but whose miseries are numerous, substantial, 
and incessant ! How long shall I see the church of 
Christ lie trodden under the feet of persecutors; or 
else as a ship in the hands of foolish guides, though 
the supreme Master does moderate and overrule all 

29* 



342 AN EXAMPLE OP 

for the best. Alas, that I must stand by and see the 
church and cause of Christ, like a foot-ball in the 
midst of a crowd of hoys, tossed about in contention 
from one to another; everyone running and sweating 
with foolish violence, and labouring the downfall of 
all that are in his way, and all to get it into his own 
power, that he may have the managing of the work 
himself, and may drive it before him which way he 
pleases ; and when all is done, the best usage it may 
expect from them, is but to be spurned about in the 
dirt, till they have driven it on to the goal of their 
private interests, or deluded fancies ! There is none 
of this disorder in the heavenly world. There I shall 
find a government without imperfection, and obedi- 
ence without the least unwillingness or rebellion, even 
an harmonious consent of perfected spirits, in obeying 
and praising their everlasting King. how much 
better is it to be a door-keeper there, or the least in 
that kingdom, than to be the conqueror or commander 
of this tumultuous world ! There will our Lord 
govern more immediately by himself, and not put 
the reins into the hands of such ignorant riders, nor 
govern by such foolish and sinful deputies, as the 
best of the sons of men now are. How long hast 
thou desired to be a member of a more perfectly 
reformed church, and to join with more holy, humble, 
sincere souls, in the purest and most heavenly wor- 
ship ! Why, dost thou not see that on earth thy 
desires fly from thee ? Art thou not as a child that 
thinks to travel to the sun, when he sees it rising or 
setting, as if it were close to the earth ; but as he 
travels towards it, it seems to go from him ; and when 
he has long wearied himself, it is as far off as ever ; 
for the tiling he seeks is in another world ? Even 
such has been thy labour in seeking for so holy, so 
pure, so peaceable a society, as might afford thee a 
contented settlement here. When wars and calamities 
attending them have been over, I have said, Return 
now unto thy rest, my soul. But how restless a 
condition has next succeeded ! When God had given 
me the enjoyment of peace, and friends, and liberty 



HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 313 

of the gospel; and had settled me even as my own 
heart desired, I have been ready to say, - Soul, take 

thy ease and rest." But how quickly has Providence 
called nie fool, and taught me to call my state by 
another name ! When did I ever begin to congratu- 
late my flesh on its felicity, but God did quickly 
change my tune, and made almost the same breath 
to end in groaning, which had begun in laughter ? I 
have often thought, in the folly of my prosperity, 
<• Now I will have one sweet draught of solace and 
content." But God has dropped in the gall, while 
the cup was at my mouth. We are ever weary of 
our present condition, and desire a change ; and when 
we have it, it does not answer our expectation, but 
our discontent and restlessness are still unchanged. 
In time of peace, we thought that war would deliver 
us from our disquietments ; and when we saw the 
iron red-hot, we catched it inconsiderately, thinking 
that it was gold, till it burned us to the very bone, 
and so stuck to our fingers, that we scarce know yet 
whether we are rid of it or not. In this our misery, 
we longed for peace ; and so long were we strangers 
to it, that we had forgotten its name, and began to 
call it Rest, or Heaven. But as soon as we again 
grow acquainted with it, we shall bethink ourselves, 
and perceive our mistake. why am I then no 
more Aveary of this weariness, and why do I forget 
my resting place ? Up, my soul, in thy most ele- 
vated and fervent desires ! Stay not till this flesh can 
rise in desire with thee ; its appetite has a lower and 
baser object, and therefore look not that sense appre- 
hend thy blessed object, and tell thee what and when 
to desire it. But though sense apprehend not that 
which must draw thy desires, yet that which may 
drive them, it does easily apprehend. It can tell thee 
that thy present life is filled with distress and sorrows, 
though it cannot tell thee what is in the world to come. 
Thou needest not Scripture to tell thee, nor faith to 
discern, that thy head aches, and thy stomach is sick, 
thy bowels griped, and thy heart grieved ; and some 
of these, or such like, are thy daily case. Thy friends 



344 AN EXAMPLE OF 

about thee are grieved to see thy griefs, and to hear 
thy dolorous groans and lamentations; and yet art 
thou Loath to leave this woful life I Is this a state to 
be preferred before the celestial glory ; or is it better 
to be thus miserable from Christ, than to be happy 
with him!* 

my soul, does not the dulness of thy desires after 
rest accuse thee of ingratitude and folly? Must thy 
Lord procure thee rest at so dear a rate, and dost thou 
no more value it ? Must he purchase thy rest by a 
lil'c of labour and sorrow, and by the pangs of a bitter 
and accursed death ; and when all is done, hadst thou 
rather be here without it? Must he go before to 
prepare so blessed a mansion for such a worm, and 
art thou now loath to go to. possess it? Must his 
blood, and care, and pains be all lost? O unthankful, 
unworthy soul ! shall the Lord of glory be desirous 
of thy company, and art thou undesirous of his? 
Are they lit to dwell with God, that had rather stay 
from him ? Must he crown thee and glorify thee 
against thy will? Or must he yet deal more roughly 
with thy darling flesh, and leave thee not a corner in 
thy ruinous cottage to cover thee ? Must every sense 
be an inlet to thy sorrows, and every friend become 
thy scourge, and every messenger be the intelligencer 
of thy multiplied calamities, before that heaven will 
seem more desirable than this earth? Must every 
joint be the seat of pain, and every member deny 
thee rest, and thy groans be indited from thy very 

* " The things of this world do nothing delight me, nor any tem- 
poral kingdom. It is better for me to die in Jesus Christ, than to 
reign in the ends of the earth. For I desire after the Lord, the 
Son of the true God, and the Father of Jesus Christ. Him I seek, 
and him that died and rose for us. Spare me, brethren, hinder me 
not from life ; for Jesus is the life of the faithful. Do not wish me 
to die; for life, without Christ, is death. Being resolved to be 
God's, I may not please the world. Suffer me to behold the pure 
light When I come thither, I shall be a man of God. Let me 
alone that I may be an imitator of the sufferings of my God. He 
that would have him in himself, let him know what I would have, 
ami snil'er with me, as knowing what is in me," says Ignatius in 
Epiat. ad Human, edit. Vsserii, p. 87. 



HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION 345 

heart and bones before thou wilt be willing to leave 
this flesh? Must thy heavy burdens be bound upon 
thy back, and thy intolerable paroxysms become 
incessant? Yea, must earth become a very hell to 
thee before thou wilt be willing to be with God ? O 
ungrateful soul, what is loathing, if this be love? 
Look about thee, my soul; behold the most lovely 
creature, or the most desirable state, and tell me, 
where wouldst thou be, if not with God ? Poverty is 
a burden, and riches a snare. Sickness is little 
pleasing to thee, and usually health is little safe ; the 
one is full of sorrow, the other of sin. The frowning 
world bruises thy heel ; and the smiling world stings 
thee to the heart. So much as the world is loved 
and delighted in, so much it hurts and endangers him 
who loves it ; and if it may not be loved, why should 
it be desired ? 

Awake, then, my drowsy soul, and look above 
this world of sorrow ! Hast thou borne the yoke of 
afflictions from thy youth, and so long felt the smart- 
ing rod, and yet canst thou no better understand its 
meaning ? Is not every stroke to drive thee hence ? 
and is not the voice of the rod like that to Elisha, 
"What dost thou here?" Dost thou forget the pre- 
diction of thy Lord, " In the world ye shall have 
tribulation; but in me ye shall have peace ?" The 
first thou hast found true by long experience : and of 
the latter thou hast a small foretaste ; but the perfect 
peace is yet before thee, and till it be enjoyed, it can- 
not be clearly understood. 

The blessed souls of David, Paul, Augustine, Calvin, 
with all the spirits of the just made perfect, were 
once on earth, as I now am, as far from the sight of 
thy face and glory, as deep in sorrows, as weak, as 
sick, and full of pains as I. Their souls were long im- 
prisoned in corruptible flesh, as well as mine. I shall 
go but the way which they all went before me ; their 
house of clay fell to dust and so must mine. The 
world they now are in, was as strange to them before 
they were there, as it is to me. And am I better than 
all these precious souls ? I am, therefore, contented, 



346 AN EXAMPLE OF 

my Lord, to stay thy time, and go thy way, so thou 
wilt exalt me also in thy season. In the mean time, I 
may desire, though I am not to repine; I may look 
o\ rr the hedge, though I may not break over ; I may 
believe and wish, though not make any sinful haste; 
J am content to wait, but not to lose thee. And when 
thou scest me too contented with thine absence, and 
satisfying and pleasing myself here below, quicken up 
my dull desires, and blow up the dying spark of love; 
and leave me not till I am able unfeignedly to cry 
out, " As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so 
panteth my soul after thee, God. My soul thirsteth 
for God, for the living God. When shall I come and 
appear before God ?" Dispel the clouds that hide 
from me thy love, or remove the scales that hinder 
mine eyes from beholding thee ; for only the beams 
that stream from thy face, and the foresight or taste 
of thy great salvation, can make a soul unfeignedly to 
say, " Now let thy servant depart in peace. " Reading 
and hearing will not serve : my food is not sweet to 
my eye or my ear ; it must be taste or feeling that 
must entice away my soul. Though arguing is the 
means to bend my will, yet if, by the influences of the 
Spirit, thou make it not effectual, I shall never reason 
my soul to be willing to depart. In the winter, when 
it is cold and dirty without, I am loath to leave my 
chamber and fire ; but in the summer, when all is 
warm and green, I am loath to be confined. Show me 
but the summer fruits and pleasures of thy paradise, 
and I will freely quit my earthly cell. Some pleasure 

1 have in my books, my friends, and in thine ordi- 
nances: till thou hast given me a taste of something 
more sweet, my soul will be loath to part with these. 
The traveller will hold his cloak the closer when the 
winds do bluster, and the storms assault him; but 
when the sun shines hot, he will cast it off as a bur- 
den; so will my soul, when thou frownest, or art 
strange, be more loath to leave this garment of flesh; 
hut thy smiles will make me leave it as my prison. 
But it is not thy ordinary discoveries that will here 
suffice ; as the work is greater, so must be thy help. 



HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 3 17 

O turn these fetors into Stft>]lg desires, and this loath- 
s to die. into longings alter thee! While I must 
be absent from thee, let my soul as heartily groan 
under thine absence, as my pained body doth under 
its want Of health : and let not these groans be coun- 
terfeit or constrained, but let them come from a loftg- 
ing, loving heart, unfeignedly judging it best to depart 
and be with Christ : and if I have any more time to 
spend on earth, let me live without the world in thee, 
as I have some time lived without thee in the world. 
O sutler me not to spend, at a distance from thee, 
another day of this my pilgrimage ! While I have a 
thought to think, let me not forget thee ; while I have 
a tongue to move, let me not cease to speak of thee 
with delight ; while I have a breath to breathe, let 
me breathe after thee ; while I have a knee to bend, 
let it bow daily at thy footstool ; and when by sickness 
thou confinest me to my couch, do thou make my bed, 
and number my pains, and put all my tears into thy 
bottle. And as when my spirit groaned for my sins, 
the flesh would not second it, but desired that which 
my spirit did abhor; so now, when my flesh does 
groan under its pains, let not my spirit second it, but 
suffer the flesh to groan alone, and let me desire that 
day which my flesh abhorreth, that my friends may 
not with so much sorrow wait for the departure of my 
soul, as my soul with joy shall wait for its own de- 
parture ; and then let me die the death of the righteous, 
and let my last end be as his, even a removal to that 
glory which shall never end. Send forth thy convoy 
of angels for my departed soul, and let them convey 
it among the perfect spirits of the just ; and when my 
friends are weeping over my grave, let my spirit be at 
rest with thee, and when my corpse shall lie there rot- 
ting in the dark, let my soul be in the inheritance of 
the saints in light. And thou that numberest the 
very hairs of my head, do thou number all the days 
that my body shall lie in the dust ; and thou that 
writest all my members in thy book, do thou keep an 
account of all my scattered bones; and hasten, my 
Saviour, the time of thy return ; send forth thine angels, 



348 AN EXAMPLE OP HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 

and let that dreadful joyful trumpet sound. Delay- 
not, lest the living give up their hopes. Delay not, 
lest earth should grow like hell, and lest thy church 
by division be crumbled all to dust, and dissolved by 
bring resolved into individual units. Delay not, lest 
thine enemies gel advantage of thy flock, and lest pride 
and hypocrisy, and sensuality, and unbelief should pre- 
vail against thy little remnant, and share among them 
thy whole inheritance, and when thou comest thou 
find not faith on the earth. Delay not, lest the grave 
should boast of victory; and having learned rebellion 
of its guest, should plead prescription, and refuse to 
deliver thee up thy due. hasten the great resur- 
rection day ! when thy command shall go forth, and 
none shall disobey ; — when the earth and sea shall 
yield up their hostages, and all that sleep in the grave 
shall awake; — when the seed that thou so west cor- 
ruptible shall come forth incorruptible ; and graves 
that received but rottenness, and retained but dust, 
shall return thee glorious stars and suns. Therefore 
do I lay down my carcase in the dust, entrusting it, 
not to the grave, but to thee ; therefore my flesh shall 
rest in hope, till thou raise it to the possession of the 
everlasting rest. 

Return, Lord, how long ! let thy kingdom 
come ! Thy desolate bride says, Come. Thy Spirit 
within her says, Come, who teaches her thus to 
pray with groanings after thee, which cannot be 
uttered. The whole creation says, Come, waiting to 
be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the 
glorious liberty of the sons of God. Thou thyself 
hast said, Surely I come quickly. Amen, even so 
come, Lord Jesus. 



CONCLUSION. 349 



CONCLUSION. 

Thus I have given thee my best advice for the attain- 
ment and maintenance of an heavenly conversation. 
The manner is imperfect, and too much mine own ; but 
for the main matter, I venture to say, I received it from 
God. From him I deliver it to thee, and his charge I 
lay upon thee, that thou entertain and practise it. 
If thou canst not do it methodically and fully, yet do 
it as thou canst ; — only be sure thou do it seriously 
and frequently. If thou wilt believe a man that has 
made some small trial of it, thou wilt find it will make 
thee another man. It will elevate thy soul, and clear 
thy understanding, and polish thy conversation, and 
leave a pleasant savour upon thy heart ; so that thy 
own experience will make thee confess, that one 
hour thus spent will more effectually revive thee, 
than many employed in bare external duties ; and a 
day spent in these contemplations will afford thee 
more happiness than all the glory and riches of the 
earth. Be acquainted with this work, and thou wilt 
in some degree, be acquainted with God. Thy joys 
will be spiritual, and prevalent, and lasting, according 
to the nature of their blessed object. Thou wilt have 
comfort in life and comfort in death. When thou 
hast neither wealth nor health, nor the pleasures 
of this world, yet wilt thou have comfort, comfort 
without the presence or help of any friend, without 
a minister, without a book. When all means are 
denied thee, or taken from thee, yet mayest thou 
have vigorous, substantial comfort. Thy graces 
will be mighty, and active, and victorious ; and the 
daily joy which is thus brought from heaven will be 
thy strength. Thou wilt be as one that stands on 
the top of an exceeding high mountain : he looks 
down on the world as if it were quite below him. 

30 



350 CONCLUSION. 

How small do the fields, and woods, and countries 
appear to him ! Cities and towns seem but little spots. 
Tims wilt thou look' on all things here below. The 
greatest princes will appear to thee but as grass- 
hoppers; and the busy, contentious, covetous world, 
but as a heap of ants. Men's threatenings will be 
no terror to thee ; nor the honours of this world 
any enticement. Temptations will be more harmless, 
as having lost their strength, and afflictions less 
grievous, as having lost their sting ; while on the 
other hand, every mercy will be better known and 
better relished. 

Reader, it is under God in thine own choice now, 
whether thou wilt live this blessed life or not ; and 
whether all this pains which I have taken for thee, 
shall prosper or be lost. man! What hast thou 
to mind but God and heaven ? Art thou not almost 
out of this world already ? Dost thou not look every 
day, when one disease or other will send away thy 
soul ? Does not the bier stand ready to carry thee to 
the grave ? where, then, should thy heart be now 
but in heaven ? Didst thou but know what a dread- 
ful thing it is to have a strange and doubtful thought 
of heaven when a man lies dying, it would surely 
rouse thee up. And what other thought but strange 
can that man have, who never, till then, thought 
seriously of heaven ? Every man's first thoughts are 
strange about all things. Familiarity and acquaint- 
ance come not in a moment, but are the consequence 
of custom and frequent converse : and strangeness 
naturally raises dread, as familiarity does delight. 
Alas, how little do many godly persons differ from 
the world, either in their comforts or their willingness 
to die ! And all because they live so strange to the 
place and fountain of their comforts. Except by a 
little verbal, or other outside duties, or talking of con- 
troversies and doctrines of religion, or forbearing the 
practice of some sins, how little do the most of the 
religious world differ from other men, when God hath 
prepared so vast a difference hereafter ! If a word 
of heaven fall in now and then in their conference, 



CONCM'siny. 

alas, hoW slight is it, fend customary , and heartfc 

And it' their prayers or preaching hare heavenly 

expressions, they usually are fetched from their mere 
invention, or memory, or hooks, and not from the 
penenee or feeling of their hearts. what a lit'.- might 
men live, if they were but willing and diligent! God 
Would have our joys to he tar mote than our sorrows; 
yea, he would have us to have no sorrow, hut what 
tendeth to joy: and no more .than our sins have mad* 
necessary lor our good. How much do those Chris- 
tians wrong God and themselves, that either make 
their thoughts of God the inlet of their sorrows, or let 
these offered joys lie by, neglected or forgotten ! 

My Christian friends, I have here lined you out a 
heavenly precious work : would you but do it, it would 
make you happy indeed. To delight in God, is the 
work of angels, and the contrary is the work of devils. 
If God would persuade you now to make conscience 
of this duty, and help you in it by the blessed influ- 
ence of his Spirit, you would not change your lives 
with the greatest prince on earth. But I am afraid, 
if I may judge of your hearts by the backwardness of 
my own, that it will prove a hard thing to persuade 
you to the work, and that much of my labour will be 
lost. Pardon my jealousy: it is raised upon too many 
and sad experiments. What say you? Do you re- 
solve on this heavenly course or no? Will you let go 
all your sinful fleshly pleasures, and daily seek after 
these higher delights? I pray thee, reader, here shut 
the book, and consider of it; and resolve on the duty 
before thou go further. 

Let thy family perceive, let thy neighbours perceive, 
let thy conscience perceive, yea, let God perceive it, 
that thou art a man who hast thy daily conversation 
in heaven. God hath now offered to be thy daily 
delight; and wilt thou neglect or refuse it. What! 
refuse delight! and especially such delight! If I had 
proposed to you a course of melancholy and fear, and 
sorrow, you might have demurred about it. But take 
heed what thou dost; refuse this, and you refuse all. 
Thou must have heavenly delights, or none that are 



352 CONCLUSION. 

lasting. God is willing that thou shouldst daily walk 
with him, and draw consolation from the everlasting 
fountain. If thou be unwilling, even bear thy loss; 
and one of these days, when thou shalt lie dying, seek 
for comfort where thou canst get it, and make what 
shift thou canst for happiness. Then thou wilt see 
whether thy lleshly delights will stick to thee or give 
thee the slip: and conscience will make thee remem- 
ber, that thou wast once persuaded to more excellent 
pleasures, that would have followed thee through 
death, and have lasted thee through eternity. What 
man will go in rags, that may be clothed in the best ? 
or feed on pulse, that may feed on the best? or accom- 
pany with the vilest, that may be a companion of the 
best, and admitted into the presence, and favour of the 
greatest? And shall we delight so much in our 
clothing of flesh, and feed so much on the vain plea- 
sures of earth, and accompany so much with sin and 
sinners, when heaven is set open, as it were, to our 
daily view, and God doth daily offer us admittance ? 
O how is the unseen God neglected — and the unseen 
glory forgotten, — and all for want of that faith, which 
is " the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of 
things not seen !" 

As for you, sincere believers, whose hearts God has 
weaned from all things here below, I hope you will 
value this heavenly life, and take one walk daily in 
the New Jerusalem ! I know God is the object of 
your love, and desire ; I know you would fain be 
more acquainted with your Saviour ; I know it is 
your grief that your hearts are not more near him, 
and that they do no more freely and passionately 
love him and delight in him. As ever you would 
have all this corrected, try this life of meditation 
on your everlasting rest ! let the world see by 
your heavenly lives, that religion lies in something 
more than opinions and disputes, and a round of 
outward duties ; let men see in you what a life they 
must aim at. If ever a Christian be like himself, 
and correspondent to his principles and profession, 
it is when lie is most serious, and lively in this duty. 



CONCLUSION. 353 

As Moms before he died, went up into Mount Njebo, 
to take a survey of the land of Canaan, bo the 
Christian ascends the mount of Contemplation, and 

takes a survey by faith of his everlasting rest. He 
looks upon the glorious delectable mansions, and says, 
« Glorious things are spoken of thee, thou city of 
God." He hears, as it were, the melody of the 
heavenly choir, and is so transported that he is ready 
to tall down with the four-and-twenty elders, and to 
worship him that liveth for ever and ever, saying, 
« Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, 
and is, and is to come." He looks on the glorified 
Saviour, and is ready to say, Amen, to that new song, 
« Worthy is the Lamb, for thou wast slain and hast 
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every 
kindred, and tongue and people, and nation, and hast 
made us unto our God kings and priests, and we 
shall reign for ever and ever." Thus as the lark 
sings most sweetly, and never ceases her pleasant 
ditty, while she hovers aloft as if she were there 
gazing on the glory of the sun, but is suddenly 
silenced when she falls to the earth, — so is the frame 
of the soul most delectable and divine, while by con- 
templation it keeps in the views of God ; but alas, we 
make there too short a stay ; down again we fall, and 
lay by our music. 

But, thou, the merciful Father of spirits, the 
attractive of love, the ocean of delights, draw up these 
hearts unto thyself, and keep them there, till they are 
spiritualized and refined ; and second these thy ser- 
vant's weak endeavours, and persuade those that 
read these lines, to the practice of this delightful, 
heavenly work. And, suffer not the soul of thy 
most unworthy servant to be a stranger to those joys 
which he unfolds to thy people, or to be seldom in 
that way which he has described to others; but 
keep me while I tarry on this earth, in daily serious 
breathings after thee, and in a believing, affectionate 
walking with thee. And when thou comest, let me 
be found so doing, not hiding my talent, nor serving 
my flesh, nor yet asleep with my lamp unfurnished, 

30* 



354 CONCLUSION. 

but waiting and longing for my Lord's return, — that 
those who shall read these heavenly directions, may 
reap not only the fruit of my studies, but the breath- 
ings of my active faith, and hope and love, that if 
my heart were opened to their view, they might 
there read the same most deeply engraven, as with a 
beam from the face of the Son of God, and not find 
vanity, or lust, or pride within, where the words of 
life appear without, that so these lines may not wit- 
ness against me, but, proceeding from the heart of 
the writer, may be effectual through thy grace upon 
the heart of the reader, and so be to both the savour 
of life unto life. Amen. 

GLORY BE TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST; 

ON EARTH PEACE ; 

GOOD-WILL TOWARDS MEN. 



THE END. 



